The rule of law is perhaps one of the greatest achievements of humankind this millennium and will profoundly affect the next.
The rule of law has come in both science and society, replacing myth, superstition and arbitrary power. The rule of law has redefined the place of humans in the universe.
No longer are humans on a flat earth in the centre of the universe, uniquely created. No longer is it normal for some humans have unaccountable power over other humans, or even own them as slaves.
The Greeks and the Romans got to the verge of this achievement, without actually reaching it, but this millennium saw a transformation of society based upon the replacement of personal power by impersonal power. The former was individualist and stemmed in theory from the divine right of kings and in practice through the possession of force. The latter is universal and based on words.
At the beginning of the millennium in nearly every part of the world human conduct was governed by arbitrary personal power. Where one fitted in the hierarchy determined one’s rights, down to slaves and serfs at the bottom.
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