Statul de drept şi domnia legii – evoluție, limite și relevanță actuală
Rechtsstaat and Rule of Law – evolution, limits, and present day relevance

Summary/Abstract: Both the notion of the Rechtsstaat and of the rule of law is in many respects coextensive with the concept of constitutionalism. The requirements of the constitutional architecture of modern states coincide to a great extent to the principles of the Rechtsstaat: separation of powers, guarantee of fundamental rights, legality, supremacy of the Constitution, judicial review over the administration and the legislative, predictability of law, clarity and precision in lawmaking, proportionality and reasonable motivation of state decisions. Unlike constitutionalism, the Rechtsstaat elude political issues such as legitimization of power, legitimacy of existing regimes or ownership of constituent power. In this predominantly technical and apolitical character lie both the strength and the weakness of the Rechtsstaat. It lies between Scylla and Caribda, risking either to be crushed by the political rocks he ignores as a consequence of its refusal to distinguish between friends and foes among internal political actors, or to be absorbed – by formal and official enforcement of substantive values – into the vortex of an ideological and political hawkish struggle or exploited within a culture war.

• Details
• Contents