N.B. this article is from 2012....."...NOTES: [1] RULE OF LAW PRINCIPLES (twelve) 1. There must be laws prohibiting and protecting against private violence and coercion, general lawlessness and anarchy. 2. The government must be bound (as far as possible) by the same laws that bind individuals. 3. The law must possess characteristics of certainty, generality and equality. Certainty requires that the law be prospective, open, clear and relatively stable. Laws must be of general application to all subjects. The must apply equally to all. 4. The law must be and remain reasonably in accordance with informed public opinion and general social values and there must be some mechanism (formal and informal) for ensuring that. 5. There must be institutions and procedures that are capable of expeditiously enforcing the law. 6. There must be effective procedures and institutions to ensure that government action is also in accordance with the law. 7. There must be an independent judiciary, so that it may be relied upon to apply the law. 8. A system of legal representation is required, preferably by an organized and independent legal profession. 9. The principles of ?natural justice” (or procedural fairness) must be observed in all hearings. 10. The courts must be accessible, without long delays and high costs 11. Enforcement of the law must be impartial and honest. 12. There must be an enlightened public opinion— a public spirit or attitude favoring the application of these propositions. (This proposition has echoes of point number four in it. In addition, it is a requirement that the community be kept informed of the state of the law, social changes and trends requiring amendments to the law (or to the way in which it is enforced), and the need to proceed in a principled way at all times in the general public interest. The media inevitably play a large part in the fulfillment of this requirement ? so freedom of the press, of information and of communications is vital.) [See the Southern Law Review Special Issue Restoring the Rule of Law in Volume 4 December 2000 Lismore NSW]..."