Historiography, Empire and the Rule of Law: Imagined Constitutions, Remembered Legalities

Historiography, Empire and the Rule of Law considers the intersection of these terms in the historical development of what has come to be known as the ‘rule of law’. The separation of governmental powers, checks and balances, and judicial independence signified something entirely new in the way in which politics was imagined and practiced. This ‘rule of law’ cannot, as it often is, be traced to the justification and practice of government as originating in a social contract among the govern...