Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, December 15 2009 @ 08:36 AM CST
From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.
Nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principles known as the Rule of Law. Stripped of all technicalities, (the Rule of Law) means that government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand–rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how authority will use its coercive powers in given circumstances and to plan one’s individual affairs on the basis of this knowledge.
Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.