An ideal called ‘the rule of law’ has won praise since ancient times from a diverse band of enthusiasts ranging from Aristotle and John Locke to the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. This apparent consensus, one that impressively bridges temporal, cultural and ideological divides, partly reflects the obvious fact that the phrase ‘the rule of law’ means different things to different people.1 One can, without linguistic impropriety, use this expression to refer to a number of significant though distinct ideas, or indeed to no clear idea whatsoever. To make progress, we must disentangle some of these ideas before trying to identify and elaborate the most compelling or fruitful version(s) of the rule of law.