THE RULE OF LAW AS THE BASIS OF CONSTITUTIONALISM

The rule of law is the central principle of every human-centered, i.e. liberaldemocratic constitution. The state community is bound to the law in its hierarchical structure; the primacy of the constitution is essential to today's constitutionalism and extends the earlier restriction of the rule of law to legality, i.e. to the primacy of the simple law over the executive.

The normative existence of this principle is independent of whether it is a written or unwritten part of the constitutional order. The example of Great Britain, with parliamentary sovereignty as the supreme constitutional principle, shows how difficult it is to safeguard the rule of law against unrestricted access by the legislature. From a comparative legal perspective, a constitutional model of the rule of law has emerged.