抄録
In this essay, I wish to explore the key elements of the idea of the rule of law in the history of Anglo-Saxon legal thought. My exploration, though sketchy, is with the perspective that the significant core of the idea of the rule of law in a historical context embraces us still today, and that its strands are grasped as a chain novel of the normative tradition of the rule of law we are required to succeed in current contexts. Based on this perspective, I analyze the various elements of the idea of the rule of law, particularly in the legal thoughts of British or American thinkers from 17th century to modern days. The place of the rule of law is recognized as an important component of constitutional justice that gives the basis of legal system; its key elements are grasped as strongly connected to a cluster of moral principles such as equal liberty for all, equal participation in democratic deliberation, and public reason. And the various strands of the thoughts of thinkers in law leading to these elements are traced in the history of legal thought mentioned above. In developing this kind of understanding, I claim that the key elements of the idea of the rule of law constitute the substantive texture or the multidimensional layers of the idea of the rule of law, and that we may utilize it as the resource for a further weaving of the web of legal rules and principles to pursue the realization of just society.
