King Delivers Presentation on the Rule of Law at the European University Institute

On Friday, 22 May 2026, GCDC Deputy Director Professor Jeff King delivered a presentation on the rule of law at an event organised by the Constitutional Law and Politics Working Group, European University Institute.

In his presentation, entitled ‘Raz on the Rule of Law: A Critique’, Professor King contended that Raz’s early theory of the rule of law was flawed in several respects, and ultimately unravelled in his final word on the topic in his 2019 article on the rule of law. Professor King further contended that Raz’s later restatement was incomplete and does not withstand scrutiny as a convincing account of the rule of law. Both claims were sustained through a respectful and sympathetic reconstruction of Raz’s position.

The most important aspect of the critique lay in the method Raz employed, which Professor King termed ‘legal essentialist’. He argued that this method is also adopted by a range of other legal theorists, both positivist and natural law (or interpretivist), meaning that the weaknesses identified in Raz’s account are present in many other theories of the rule of law. Professor King concluded that the rule of law is best understood as a normative political theory ideal rather than a value derived from an account of the nature of law.

The presentation was followed by comments from Dr Sebastian Lewis (Surrey) and Dr Cécile Degiovanni.