Rule of Law

The State is the only institution entitled to apply coercion and compulsion and to inflict harm upon individuals. This tremendous power cannot be abandoned to the discretion of some men, however competent and clever they may deem themselves. It is necessary to restrict its application. This is the task of the laws.

Bureaucracy, p. 76

The alternative to the rule of law is the rule of despots.

Bureaucracy, p. 76

It is the social function of the laws to curb the arbitrariness of the police. The rule of law restricts the arbitrariness of the officers as much as possible. It strictly limits their discretion and thus assigns to the citizens a sphere in which they are free to act without being frustrated by government interference.

Planned Chaos, pp. 63–64

It is the rule of law alone which hinders the rulers from turning themselves into the worst gangsters.

Planned Chaos, p. 64

Classical liberalism regarded those laws best that afforded the least discretionary power to executive authorities, thus avoiding arbitrariness and abuse. The modern state seeks to expand its discretionary power—everything is to be left to the discretion of officials.

A Critique of Interventionism, pp. 31–32

A state whose chiefs recognize but one rule, to do whatever seems at the moment to be expedient in their eyes, is a state without law. It does not make any difference whether or not these tyrants are “benevolent.”

Omnipotent Government, p. 46