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39 Oxford J. Legal Stud. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/oxfjls39 and id is 1 raw text is: Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1 (2019), pp. 1-15 doi: 10. 1093/ojls/gqyO4l Published Advance Access January 10, 2019 The Law's Own Virtue Joseph Raz* Abstract-This article offers a new account of the rule of law, revising my previous view and criticising some alternatives. It focuses on the rule of law's aim to avoid arbitrary government, and on its relation to the essential functions of government. The rule of law requires that government action will manifest an intention to protect and advance the interests of the governed. As such, it is almost a necessary condition for the law's ability to meet other moral demands, and it facilitates coordination and cooperation internally and internationally. Keywords: rule of law, arbitrary government, government as custodian, the interest of the governed 1. The Rule of Law and the Role of Law We can think of the rule of law as a virtue the law should possess. It is one of the main virtues the law should have, and as such, exploring it contributes to an understanding of the nature of law and its role in our life. The law is a structure of rules, institutions, practices and the common understandings that unite them, which normally are an aspect of some social organisation: state, city, university, corporation. International law is a possible exception, not being united by its relation to a single organisation. When exploring the essential role the law plays in the life of the people whose law it is, we study its essential properties, its relations to the organisation whose law it is (the state etc) and to people's life and thought more generally. The rule of law, as I will understand it, is a specific virtue or ideal that the law should conform to. There is no agreement about what it is: this lack of agreement is common to important normative institutions and principles, like freedom of speech. The lack of agreement is often a source of strength-people unite in supporting such institutions and principles in spite of diverse views about their nature. But should we not try to establish which of the views is correct? Often, more than one is correct and the disagreement is illusory, an * Columbia Law School and King's College London. Email: joseph.raz@law.ox.ac.uk This is a revised and enlarged version of my Tang Prize Lecture (September 2018). In general, it keeps the style of the lecture. I am grateful to Timothy Endicott for very important comments on an earlier draft. C The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

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