My goal to use Lex et Libertas as a place develop and share ideas on the critical role the rule of law plays in securing liberty for individuals, groups, and societies at a time when illiberal forces are engaged in a concerted effort to undermine law, institutions, and frequently the concept of truth itself. These are interrelated.

Terminology

“Lex,” in the context of this site, refers to law, and in particular the concept of the rule of law. It includes the core principles, which will be explored in future posts, that the law applies equally to all, that public power is exercised transparently and within legal frameworks, that rights and obligations are clear and predicable, that individuals have meaningful access to enforce rights and obtain remedies, and that judges and courts are impartial, professional, ethical, and free from political, ideological, or partisan bias.

“Libertas” reflects freedom from oppression, self-determination and autonomy, equality of treatment and opportunity, freedom of expression, and security from violence by either the state or other individuals.

The Link Between Law and Liberty

My starting premise is that the rule of law is the best framework we have developed to secure the individual and societal benefits of liberty.

Why Now?

As mentioned above, the rise of illiberalism has advanced in parallel with the undermining of law, institutions, and individual liberties. This assault is often blurred and obscured by the misuse and inversion of terms like freedom, liberty, and constitutionalism, together with a flood of falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and related tactics to untether populations from notions of objective and provable truth and the practice and habit of critical reasoning.

This is not accidental. Through both instinct and design, the champions of illiberalism use these techniques to erode and overwhelm both public institutions and private critical reasoning with the aim of arrogating power, accumulating oligarchic wealth, crushing opposition, and smashing guardrails and checks on arbitrary self-dealing and autocracy.