The Role of Public Perception in the Rule of Law

• Author: Gregory N. Mandel
• Pages: 1-11

1.1 RULE OF LAW.DOC (DO NOT DELETE) 2019/1/7 2:47 PM

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THE ROLE OF PUBLIC PERCEPTION IN THE RULE OF LAW

Gregory N. Mandel

Editor’s note

The following speech was given by Dean and Professor Gregory N. Mandel during “The

Tsinghua China Law Review 10th Anniversary S ymposium: China’s Role Under the

Globalization of the Rule of Law” at Tsinghua University School of Law in Beijing, China.

The speech has be en edited, replenished and modified, to the extent appropriate for

publication purpose.

I want to thank the Tsinghua China Law Review and congratulate

you on your 10th year. That is a fabulous accomplishment and I am

very honored to be here and speak at your anniversary symposium

today. My topic is the role that public perception plays in the success

or failure of the rule of law. The rule of law refers to the authority

and influence that law has in society, particularly as a constraint on

individual and institutional behavior.1 The promise of the rule of

law, as opposed to the rule of individuals, is that it is the law itself

that governs us, not the arbitrary whims or wishes of powerful

officials.2

Much of the conversation about the rule of law takes place from

this overarching policy level that I just mentioned. We can think of

this as a top-down approach to the rule of law: What kinds of laws,

legislative authority, and judicial capacity is necessary in order for

the government to establish the rule of law? My remarks to some

degree will view the rule of law from the opposite direction, from the

bottom-up. They focus on what kind of popular understanding and

* Dean and Peter J. Liacouras Professor of Law, Temple University—Beasley School of Law. Study

results referenced here are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant

No. 1324138, for which I thank them. I also want to thank Madhumita Anand for her outstanding

research assistance on this article.

1 Margaret Jane Radin, Reconsidering the Rule of Law, 69 B.U. L. REV. 781, 781 (1989); J.

RAWLS, A THEORY OF JUSTICE 235 (1971).

2 Radin, supra note 1, at 781.