Skip to main content

View more from News & Articles or Primerus Weekly

The lawyers of Primerus have many things in common.  Perhaps the most fundamental value we have in common is our belief in the Rule of Law.  But what does that really mean, and where does it come from?

I submit the Rule of Law means there are standards, rules and requirements which do no change and are not subject to the interpretation or the whim of any individual ruler, any judge or any office holder.

And from where does this concept of Rule of Law originate?  Plato discussed the concept of justice and “behaving as one should”.  His pupil, Aristotle wrote that humans alone have the ability to reason.  He argued that an orderly society is founded upon a basic understanding of human nature and the application of reason.

Saint Thomas Aquinas posited that the public has the right to overthrow a tyrannical ruler.

These concepts came together in the soaring language of Magna Carta sealed by King John on June 15, 1215.  Clauses 38, 39 and 40 of Magna Carta are the so called “Golden Passages” of Magna Carta.  They are the forerunners of the concept of “a government of laws and not of men” and therefore the Rule of Law.

Clause 38 states, “Henceforth no bailiff shall upon his own unsupported accusation put any man to trial without producing credible witnesses to the truth of the accusation.”

Clause 39 states, “No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or any way destroyed, nor will We proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land.”  The phrase “judgment of his peers” is an affirmation of the right to trial by jury.

Clause 40 states, “To no one will We sell, to no one will We deny or delay right or justice.”  King John referred to himself with the royal “We”.

Magna Carta turns 805 years old this year.  Like many of the world’s greatest documents, it lives on today as the cornerstone of our concept of the Rule of Law.  Primerus attorneys all around the world work diligently and humbly to uphold that Rule of Law.  It is an honor to uphold this law with each one of you.