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access of justice that the rule of law was mentioned, I think the
debate on the meaning of the rule of law, and how to measure it
will be more dynamic in the coming years.

Despite all the differences observed by leading academia, as a
practitioner, I would say that the rule of law, just like its name,
should be the rule for the good law; the rule sets out what good
law has to be. In my opinion, first, law must come from a rightful
source and has to be publicly propagated. This also implies the
idea of public participation and decision making, which means
that the law must come from the people.

Second, law must be in accordance with human rights and
national standard. In other words, the content of law must be for
the common good neither for the benefit of individuals nor
particular groups of people.

Third, law must be enforced and applied fairly and equally to
everybody: all persons, institutions, entities both public and
private, including the state alike, everyone on this accountable
under the law. This is very important, especially for Thailand, as
the rule of law is known in Thai as ‘Lak Nithidhamma’: ‘Lak’
means principle; ‘Nithi’ means law; ‘dhamma’ means fairness.
Therefore, the rule of law in Thai connotes fairness as part of the
rule of law principle.

Fourth, law must be independently adjudicated which means
that institutions like court and justice need to be independent and
not to be under any power or able to be influenced by politics and
power.

From this definition, we might be able to see it a little more
clearly on how the rule of law is a key principle in keeping the
democratic system going. To draw such relationship, the rule of
law supports that the law comes from the public needs with
reason, with the core value of democracy, with these people’s
participation. The law must aim to protect human rights, which
are one of the key elements of democracy. The law shall be
enforced to everybody equally. This is what makes law be for the
majority.

การอภิปรายรวมระหวางผูแทนจากตางประเทศ