[Des Voeux Chambers-Oxford-HKU Visiting Fellowship Scheme]
Public Seminar:
Guidance and the Rule of Law
Date: October 9, 2026 (Friday)
Time: 12:30 – 1:30 PM
Venue: Room 824, 8/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Prior registration is required for this in-person event: click here to register
Abstract
On the approach based on the traditional conception of political authority, the rule of law is typically understood as a set of contingent attributes of legal rules (clear, prospective, possible to comply with, and so on). Its subject matter is authority ruling us by conveying authoritative instructions meant to guide our action, and it purports to improve the instructions’ suitability to the task. The rule of law so understood qualifies and streamlines how authority commands, thereby improving the commands’ capacity to guide.
If we abandon the traditional understanding of political authority, a different conception of the rule of law comes into view. Law, by virtue of its existence, restricts government. It reserves the power to use force to the community and subjects such use to strict conditions, assigning to government the task of patrolling the boundaries and exercising force in the community’s name only subject to the conditions that it sets. Use of force according to law is therefore a limit on government, not an enhancement designed to strengthen the practical bite of its commands. That is what the rule of law is all about.
Speaker
Professor Nicolaos Stavropoulos
Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Oxford
Chair
Professor Scott Veitch
Paul KC Chung Professor in Jurisprudence, HKU
