Law is the body of valid rules that can be effectively enforced by all parties involved. Thus, only rules that are respected as independently enforceable constitute law—a fundamental difference from thinking and acting according to the logic of power.

Without rules that can be reliably enforced, lawlessness (anomie) prevails. When rules are promoted and applied as law without being generally enforceable, injustice prevails. Unequal law, such as the law of the estates, was historically regarded and described as law (ordained by God). But unequal law loses its legal character when those disadvantaged cannot effectively claim their (lesser) rights. Formally equal law, too, loses its legal character when, for example, it can be manipulated through the lobbying-driven embedding of “small print.” Beyond formalistic application of the law, a substantive and/or empathetically wise application of the law

This gives rise to the following hierarchy of legality: 

1. Injustice and Lawlessness
2. Unequal law
3. Equal rights subject to manipulation
4. Effectively Protected Equal Rights
5. Applying the Law with Impartiality and Empathy

Law exists in different forms (such as public law, including criminal law and human rights, private law, and sector-specific forms of law). All these forms of law can be compared and analyzed across different levels of civility.

Law is fundamentally important in all societies that have elements of civility. It can serve a range of functions, including coordination, peace and security, preserving and developing values, protecting freedom, legitimizing authority, and controlling power. The extent to which law is established, and the forms it takes, depend not only on a legal discourse that sets its own terms, but also on the general level of civility. In war, for example, even the most basic legal protections are at risk of being lost. Where power is largely absolute, law loses much of its significance; where individual self-interest prevails, law can easily become a plaything of the rich and powerful. Conversely, legal and bureaucratic formalism can also undermine general welfare.

Unilateral, one-dimensional thinking struggles with the two-dimensional concept of law. Thus, independent law has no place in the logic of friend or foe. From the perspective of the logic of power, law can only be conceived as the law of the rulers, in keeping with the saying attributed to Karl Marx: The ruling law is the law of the rulers. And in interest-driven thinking (such as Donald Trump’s), law is an absurdity. Accordingly, unilateralists seek to relativize, undermine and abolish independent law.

For more on legal theory based on civility theory, see: