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It is hard l y sur pr ising then that democrac y and
constitutionalism go together and require the rule of law to be
effective.

The more interesting question is how to get the rule of law.
This is particularly pertinent I Asia which has ancient
civilisations, deep cultural understanding, religious ethnic
pluralism, and dynamic economic and political development.

Many Asian legal tr aditions tend to emphasise
communitarian approaches and the need for good rulers rather
than the supremacy of good laws. Nation-building, stability, and
economic growth have been achieved either without assistance
from ‘rule of law’, or else via ‘rule BY law’, in which the rule of law
is not seen as binding the rulers but only the ruled.

The dominance of market forces and liberal-democratic
versions of the rule of law have challenged this position, posing
the problem whether an Asian, ‘thick’ version of the rule of law,
incorporating substantive ideology (political economy, form of
government, social norms?), is more suitable for Asian conditions
and thinking than the ‘thin’ - traditional and formalistic Diceyan
conception. Thus Randy Peerenboom offers additional rule of law
components, such rules for determining which entities can make
law and how; publicity, predictability and accessibility of law;
clarity, consistency, stability and general acceptability of law;
narrowing of the gap between the law in books and the law in
practice; and development of legal aid.

However, a fundamental problem in Asia is that the law that
rules in rule of law thinking is mainly law that was transplanted
th
th
from Europe in the 19 or 20 century. Every single Asian
country has a common law system or one based on the civil law.
Their constitutions are more varied, with several different models
in evidence, all of which are not indigenous to Asia in their
origins. England on the other hand developed its laws out of
common elements in its various regional customs and has had

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