';

Rule of Law

ELSA x LexisNexis Essay Competition on the Rule of Law

ELSA and LexisNexis wish to honour Rule of Law commitment among law students and young lawyers across Europe. To realise this mission, we organise yearly the ELSA x LexisNexis Essay Competition on the Rule of Law to raise the awareness of law students and young lawyers across Europe and the globe, on the importance of the Rule of Law.

This year we encourage law students and young lawyers to engage actively with the Rule of Law by asking them to share their views on the following topic:

“Populism and the Rule of Law”

Submissions for the Competition, as well as a topic specification and assesment criteria, will be available on this page on 11th of May 2025.

Last year’s Rule of Law Essay Competition focused on: “Corruption and the Rule of Law”

The winning essay was drafted by Giovanna Martins Sampaio from Brazil. The winning essay can be found published in the ELSA Law Review Volume XV.

What is the Rule of Law?

The Rule of law is the foundation for the development of peaceful, equitable and prosperous societies. 

LexisNexis expresses the Rule of Law in their Rule of Law Definition:

Equality under the Law

It does not matter whether you are a citizen or a monarch, rich or poor, you must be treated the same by the law.

Transparency of Law

If you do not know what the law is, how can you seek its protection?

Independent Judiciary

Politicians and governments make the law, and this will always be politically influenced. The judiciary, however, must be independent and not subject to outside influence. It must make its judgements solely on equal interpretation of law and the facts.

Accessible Legal Remedy

Even if you have fair laws, which are fairly applied and published, if you cannot get access to remedying your grievance then you have no remedy.
Why is the Rule of Law important?

The Rule of Law is the foundation of all other rights. Without the Rule of Law, nothing else works:

I. Without the Rule of Law, there is no contract system (how do you do business, how do you enforce your contracts, how do you make money?)

II. Without the Rule of Law, there is no protection for intellectual property (how do you protect your business, inventions and assets?).

III. Without the Rule of Law, there is no protection for personal security and abuse (of all kinds).

IV. Without contracts, protection of IP, personal security, investment is stunted, capital growth slows, and commerce cannot flourish.

The Rule of Law is not just a “nice to have”, it is an absolute necessity for success. The Rule of Law is not merely an issue for developing countries; it is under constant threat in all countries of the world and we must be vigilant everywhere.

LN_Logo_RGB_Primary_One-Color_Reverse

The LexisNexis Rule of Law initiatives

LexisNexis has developed a Rule of Law Tracker. Countries are scored against 44 indicators across eight categories, based on interviews with 100,000 households and 2,400 experts around the globe.

Click here to access the tracker

LexisNexis partnered with the International Bar Association in London to create eyeWitness to Atrocities. eyeWitness combines law and technology to assist human rights defenders in documenting and reporting human rights atrocities in a secure and verifiable way, so the information can be used as evidence in a court of law.

Click here to read more
lawreview.elsa.org