Religious origins of the rule of law conception in the United States

R. M. Allalyev

R. M. Allalyev Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

Keywords: The rule of law, natural law theory, the United States, theology, Calvinism.

Abstract

At the ideological level, the protection of human rights and freedoms in the United States is proclaimed as a political, legal and moral axiom. It has become a generally accepted view that the rule of law conception reflects the meaning and content of the US legal system, which is based on the original values of the American people
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The ideological source of the rule of law conception in the United States was the theological direction of natural law theory. The theological direction, based in the United States on the doctrines of Calvinism, developed an attitude to law as a supernatural entity that is not subject to the state. The article considers the influence of these ideas on the formation of the modern rule of law conception in the United States. It is impossible to give a comprehensive and correct definition of the rule of law that included all the meanings of the concept and its equivalents in all languages. This creates an analogy with large-scale sacred concepts, such as “God”. It can be said that the concept “rule of law” is definitely similar in this sense to the concept “God”, which is also inclusive in its sphere, and means the objectified supernatural entity that is the object of worship and the source of the good.

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Author Biography

R. M. Allalyev, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

Senior Lecturer, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

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