2

 March  2012  
Two  different  accounts  of  the  law  as  a  social  
institution:  
¡  Austin’s  account  of  law  as  orders  backed  by  
threats  issued  by  a  sovereign    
¡  Hart’s  account  of  law  as  a  union  of  primary  rules,  
which  tell  us  what  we  ought  to  do  or  refrain  from  
doing,  and  secondary  rules,  which,  are  rules  
about  rules  
Relationship  between  law  and  morality:    
¡  There  is  bound  to  be  some  convergence  
between  the  morality  accepted  by  a  society  and  
its  laws.  
¡  Even  just  laws  would  differ  from  morality  
because  some  moral  duties  should  not  be  legally  
enforced  and  the  law  supplements  morality    
¡  Laws  can  be  unjust,  and  we  may  have  a  moral  
duty  to  disobey  them.  
¡  Acquire  a  basic  understanding  of  rule  of  law  
¡  Examine  the  value  of  rule  of  law  
¡  Look  at  rule  of  law  in  Turkey  
¡  Discussions  of  Rule  of  Law  in  Plato’s  
Statesman  and  Laws.  
¡  Important  discussion  in  Aristotle’s  Politics:  
‘whether  it  is  more  advantageous  to  be  ruled  
by  the  best  man  or  by  the  best  rules’      
¡  The  concept’s  long  history  results  in  several  
competing  conceptions  of  the  rule  of  law.  
¡  Made  the  rule  of  law  a  cornerstone  of  liberal  
political  philosophy  
   
¡  Rule  of  law  is  a  precondition  of  political  liberty.  
   
¡  For  Montesquieu,  political  liberty  ‘is  tranquillity  
of  spirit  which  comes  from  the  opinion  each  one  
has  of  his  security,  and  in  order  for  him  to  have  
this  liberty  the  government  must  be  such  that  
one  citizen  cannot  fear  another  citizen’.    
¡  The  rule  of  law  is  a  bulwark  against  arbitrary  
government  and  tyranny.      
¡  In  order  to  make  sure  that  those  who  have  political  
power  are  also  bound  by  law:    ‘power  must  check  
power  by  the  arrangement  of  things’.      
¡  The  three  powers  of  the  state,  the  executive  power,  
the  legislative  power,  and  the  judiciary  powers  
should  not  be  in  the  same  hands.    
   
    
¡  Formal  conceptions  of  the  rule  of  law  identify  
the  rule  of  law  as  certain  formal  properties  that  
legal  systems  and  laws  can  possess  irrespective  
of  the  specific  contents  of  the  laws.      

¡  The  substantive  conceptions  of  the  rule  of  law  

build  in  other  requirements  such  as  certain  rights  
into  their  conception  of  the  rule  of  law.  
¡  It  does  a  better  job  of  capturing  the  way  the  ideal  has  
been  traditionally  understood.  
   
¡  It  helps  us  identify  certain  virtues  that  legal  systems  
can  have  that  we  can  all  agree  on  even  though  we  
disagree  about  questions  of  rights  and  justice.  
   
¡  It  is  analytically  more  useful,  and  it  helps  us  identify  a  
concept  that  can  be  helpfully  employed  in  our  
discussions  of  political  questions.  
   
 
The  key  idea  
 If  there  is  to  be  rule  of  law,  laws  should  satisfy  the  
conditions  necessary  for  guiding  the  conduct  of  
individuals.  If  people  are  going  to  be  ruled  by  law,  
they  should  be  able  to  obey  the  laws.  
   
 There  should  be  the  necessary  framework  for  
ensuring  the  impartial  administration  of  the  laws.    
¡  The  laws  should  be  properly  publicized.    
¡  The  laws  should  be  clear  and  understandable.    
¡  The  actions  the  law  require  you  to  do  should  be  
things  that  are  possible  to  do,  and  the  law  should  
recognize  ‘impossibility  of  performance  as  a  
defence’.  
¡  The  laws  should  be  relatively  stable.    
¡   The  laws  should  not  be  retrospective.    
¡   The  laws  should  not  be  contradictory.    
¡   The  laws  should  be  general.  
¡  There  should  be  ‘congruence  between  the  rules  as  
announced  and  their  actual  administration’.  
¡  The  judiciary  should  be  independent.  
¡   The  judges  should  be  guided  by  a  professional  
ethos  that  sees  the  impartial  application  of  the  law  
as  their  main  professional  duty.  
¡  The  principles  of  natural  justice  (the  conditions  
necessary  for  procedural  fairness  in  courts)  should  
be  observed.    
 The  judges  should  not  be  biased  towards  those  on  
trial  and  should  not  have  any  interests  in  the  case  
that  may  cause  them  to  be  biased.    
 Everyone  should  get  a  fair  hearing.  Each    party  
should  know  about  the  case  against  them  and  they  
should  be  able  to  present  their  own  case.  Each  side  
must  have  equal  access  to  the  judge,  legal  
representation  and  the  evidence  
¡  There  needs  to  be  courts  for  appeal    
¡   The  courts  should  be  accessible  
¡   The  actions  of  the  police  force  should  be  governed  by  
law  
¡  There  should  be  courts  that  have  the  power  to  review  
new  legislation  to  make  sure  that  new  laws  satisfy  the  
other  requirements  of  the  rule    of  law.  
¡   The  powers  of  the  executive  and  the  bureaucracy  it  
heads  should  be  ‘guided  by  open,  stable,  clear  and  
general  rules’.    
¡  I  do  not  claim  that  this  list  is  complete.    
¡   Even  though  this  is  a  formal  account,  it  is  very  
demanding.  
¡   Rule  of  law  is  an  ideal  that  legal  systems  approximate  
more  or  less.  
¡  A  necessary  condition  for  the  effectiveness  of  existing  
laws.    
   
¡  Just  laws  that  are  well-­‐formulated  and  impartially  
administered  secure  the  liberties  and  rights  of  all  
citizens.    
   
¡  A  necessary  condition  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  
legislature,  and,  for  democratic  societies,  of  self-­‐rule.    
¡  Promotes  freedom  from  arbitrary  power  –  but  
compatible  with  repressive  laws    
¡  Provides  citizens  with  predictability      
¡  Recognizes  citizens  as  people  capable  of  rationally  
planning  their  lives  
¡  A  state  that  does  not  adhere  to  the  rule  of  law,  treats  
people  as  mere  things.  As  Fuller  puts  it,  every  
departure  from  the  rule  of  law:    
 ‘is  an  affront  to  man’s  dignity  as  a  responsible  agent.  To  judge  
his  actions  by  unpublished  or  retrospective  laws,  to  order  him  to  
do  an  act  that  is  impossible,  is  to  convey  to  him  your  
indifference  to  his  powers  of  self-­‐determination.’  
We  should  be  careful  not  to  overestimate  the  value  of  the  rule  of  
law.    
¡  It  is  compatible  with  the  existence  of  very  repressive  laws.  
   
¡  We  cannot  rule  out  the  possibility  that  with  some  very  bad  laws,  
the  absence  of  rule  of  law  is  desirable.  
¡  The  Turkish  Constitution  article  139:  ‘Judges  and  public  
prosecutors  shall  not  be  dismissed,  or  retired  before  
the  age  prescribed  by  the  Constitution;  nor  shall  they  
be  deprived  of  their  salaries,  allowances  or  other  rights  
relating  to  their  status,  even  as  a  result  of  the  abolition  
of  court  or  post’’  
But  this  law  doesn’t  mention  assignment  to  new  cities  
(tayin),  which  can  create  pressure  on  the  judiciary:  
   ‘Kesinlikle  yer  teminatı  yok!  İstedikleri  zaman  
istedikleri  gibi  işte  belli  bir  kişiyi  biraz  önce  bahsettiğimiz,  
kişilere,  cinsiyete  göre  farklı  bir  muamele  yaptığı  düşündüğü  
kişilerin  veya  yapmadıkları  düşündüğü,  yani  öyle  diyeyim…
Mesela  askerler  hakkında  işlem  yapılması  […]  [B]aşka  bir  şey  
yapmadığını  düşündüğümüz  şahısları  atabiliyorsunuz  bu  
büyük  merkezlerde.  Özellikle  yer  teminatı  yok  hâkimin,  
savcının;  işte  benim  de  böyle  rasgele  buraya  gelmem  gibi.’  
¡  The  Minister  of  Justice  heads  the  judiciary  inspectors  
and  Supreme  Council  of  Judges  and  Public  Prosecutors  
(Hakimler  ve  Savcılar  Yüksek  Kurulu)  
 
¡  Overburdened  courts  
 People  lose  trust  in  the  courts  and  look  for  extra-­‐legal  
ways  of  settling  disputes  
 People  are  held  in  prison  without  conviction  for  
unacceptable  amounts  of  time.    
   
 
The  ethos  of  the  judiciary:    
 ‘Son  zamanlarda  […]  bir  deyim  var,  “bireyin  özgürlüğü  her  şeyin  
üzerindedir”.  Katılmıyorum.  Bireyin  özgürlüğünü  önde  tutan  flaş  
görüşler  var,  katılmıyorum.  Niye  katılmıyorum?  Devletim,  evvela  
devletim!  Bu  yadırganabilir  de  bazı  yazarlar,  düşünürlerin  fikirleri  
tarafından,  devletim  olmadıktan  sonra  benim  bireysel  özgürlüğüm  
hiçbir  şeye  yaramaz.  Benim  bireysel  özgürlüğümün  devletimle  
çatışmaması  lazım…’  
   
 ‘Ben  Cumhuriyet  Savcısıyım.  Bence  Cumhuriyet  Savcısı  her  zaman  
Cumhuriyet’in  tarafında  olmak  zorundadır.  Cumhuriyet’in  savcısıyım  
ben.  Yani  ben  işin  içine  devlet  girdiği  zaman  taraf  olmak  zorundayım.’  
   
 
¡  Turkish  Penal  Code  314/2:  members  of  armed  
organizations  committing  crimes  against  the  state  ‘are  
sentenced  to  imprisonment  of  five  to  10  years’.  
   
¡  Turkish  Penal  Code  220/6,  ‘The  person  who  commits  a  
crime  on  behalf  of  the  organization,  although  he  or  she  
is  not  a  member  of  the  organization,  shall  be  punished  
as  a  member  of  the  organization’.    
   
¡  ‘A  person  who  makes  propaganda  for  the  organization  
or  its  objectives  shall  be  sentenced  to  imprisonment  of  
one  to  three  years.’  (TCK  220/8,  TMK  7/2).  
   
¡  Anti-­‐Terror  Law  10/d:  The  evidence  collected  can  be  
kept  hidden  from  the  dependant  if  his/her  access  to  it  
could  jeopardize  the  goals  of  the  aims  of  the  
investigation.  
The  results:    
¡  Since  2001,  35,000  people  were  convicted  of  terror  
worldwide.  Turkey  accounted  for  one  third  of  these  arrests  
with  12,897  people.      
¡  2010,  ‘220  people  were  tried  in  the  scope  of  freedom  of  
opinion  and  freedom  of  speech,  among  them  104  
journalists’.      
¡   Turkey  ranked  138th  in  Reporters  Without  Borders’  Press  
Freedom  Index.  (There  are  178  countries  on  the  list.)