The idea that men and women must be governed by laws, not by the will of other people, is an ancient dream. The rule of law is the modern manifestation of this aspiration, which is based on three fundamental pillars: the separation of powers, the supremacy of the law, and the principles of liberty and equality. From these pillars derive the institutions that govern our civil and political existence: parliaments, constitutions, protection of rights before an impartial judge, constitutional courts, social rights grafted onto original liberalism. This book recounts the history of the tireless search for a balance between legal norms and the profusion of power, and follows its development until the threshold of globalisation in order to address the issue of the role of rights in the contemporary world.

Roberto Bin teaches Constitutional Law at the University of Ferrara.