The rule of law provides the foundation for communities of opportunityand equity - communities that offer sustainable economic development,accountable government, and respect for fundamental rights.Executive SummaryThe World Justice Project (WJP) joins efforts to producereliable data on rule of law through the WJP Rule of LawIndex 2015, the fifth report in an annual series, whichmeasures rule of law based on the experiences andperceptions of the general public and in-country expertsworldwide. We hope this annual publication, anchoredin actual experiences, will help identify strengths andweaknesses in each country under review and encouragepolicy choices that strengthen the rule of law.The WJP Rule of Law Index 2015 presents a portraitof the rule of law in each country by providing scoresand rankings organized around nine factors: constraintson government powers, absence of corruption, opengovernment, fundamental rights, order and security,regulatory enforcement, civil justice, criminal justice, andinformal justice. These factors are intended to reflecthow people experience rule of law in everyday life.The country scores and rankings for the WJP Ruleof Law Index 2015 are derived from more than100,000 household and expert surveys in 102countries and jurisdictions. The Index is the world'smost comprehensive data set of its kind and the onlyto rely solely on primary data, measuring a nation'sadherence to the rule of law from the perspective ofhow ordinary people experience it. These featuresmake the Index a powerful tool that can help identifystrengths and weaknesses in each country, and helpto inform policy debates, both within and acrosscountries, that advance the rule of law.

The World Justice Project (WJP) joins efforts to produce reliable data on rule of law through the WJP Rule of Law Index 2016, the sixth report in an annual series, which measures rule of law based on the experiences and perceptions of the general public and in-country experts worldwide. We hope this annual publication, anchored in actual experiences, will help identify strengths and weaknesses in each country under review and encourage policy choices that strengthen the rule of law. The WJP Rule of Law Index 2016 presents a portrait of the rule of law in each country by providing scores and rankings organized around eights factors: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice. A ninth factor, informal justice, is measured but not included in aggregated scores and rankings. These factors are intended to reflect how people experience rule of law in everyday life. The country scores and rankings for the WJP Rule of Law Index 2016 are derived from more than 110,000 households and 2,700 expert surveys in 113 countries and jurisdictions. The Index is the world%s most comprehensive data set of its kind and the only to rely solely on primary data, measuring a nation%s adherence to the rule of law from the perspective of how ordinary people experience it. These features make the Index a powerful tool that can help identify strengths and weaknesses in each country, and help to inform policy debates, both within and across countries, that advance the rule of law.

Women, Business and the Law 2021 is the seventh in a series of annual studies measuring the laws and regulations that affect women’s economic opportunity in 190 economies. The project presents eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they move through their lives and careers: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. This year’s report updates all indicators as of October 1, 2020 and builds evidence of the links between legal gender equality and women’s economic inclusion. By examining the economic decisions women make throughout their working lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years, Women, Business and the Law 2021 makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment. Prepared during a global pandemic that threatens progress toward gender equality, this edition also includes important findings on government responses to COVID-19 and pilot research related to childcare and women’s access to justice.

This highly accessible book investigates the rankings that increasingly influence perceptions of countries' governance and civil rights.

In The Rule of Law in the Real World, Paul Gowder defends a new conception of the rule of law as the coordinated control of power and demonstrates that the rule of law, thus understood, creates and preserves social equality in a state. In a highly engaging, interdisciplinary text that moves seamlessly from theory to reality, using examples ranging from Ancient Greece through the present, Gowder sheds light on how societies have achieved the rule of law, how they have sustained it in the face of political upheaval, and how it may be measured and developed in the future. The Rule of Law in the Real World is an essential work for scholars, students, policymakers, and anyone else who believes the rule of law is critical to the proper functioning of society.

This book examines lawyers' contributions to creating and maintaining the rule of law, one of the pillars of a liberal democracy. It moves from the European Enlightenment to the modern day, exploring the role of judges, government lawyers, and private practitioners in creating, defining, and being defined by, the demands of modern society. The book is divided into 4 parts representing the big themes. The first part considers lawyers' contribution to the growth of constitutionalism, the second, the formulation of roles and identities, and the third the formation of values. The fourth part focuses on the challenges faced by lawyers and the rule of law in the past 50 years, the neoliberal period, and how they challenge both conceptions of lawyers and the rule of law. Each part is illustrated by defining events, from the execution of Charles I, through the Nuremberg Trials, to the insurrection by supporters of Donald Trump in January 2021. Although the focus is on England and Wales, parallel developments in other jurisdictions, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA, are considered. This allows analysis of lawyers' historical and contemporary engagement with the rule of law in jurisdictional systems based on the Common Law. Each chapter is thematic, but the passage through the book is broadly chronological.

This book challenges the idea that the Rule of Law is still a universal European value given its relatively rapid deterioration in Hungary and Poland, and the apparent inability of the European institutions to adequately address the illiberalization of these Member States. The book begins from the general presumption that the Rule of Law, since its emergence, has been a universal European value, a political ideal and legal conception. It also acknowledges that the EU has been struggling in the area of value enforcement, even if the necessary mechanisms are available and, given an innovative outlook and more political commitment, could be successfully used. The authors appreciate the different approaches toward the Rule of Law, both as a concept and as a measurable indicator, and while addressing the core question of the volume, widely rely on them. Ultimately, the book provides a snapshot of how the Rule of Law ideal has been dismantled and offers a theory of the Rule of Law in illiberal constitutionalism. It discusses why voters keep illiberal populist leaders in power when they are undeniably acting contrary to the Rule of Law ideal. The book will be of interest to academics and researchers engaged with the foundational questions of constitutionalism. The structure and nature of the subject matter covered ensure that the book will be a useful addition for comparative and national constitutional law classes. It will also appeal to legal practitioners wondering about the boundaries of the Rule of Law.