Rights and the rule of law in the balance

In debates surrounding the rule of law, a recurring question has been whether a legal system’s commitment to legality is deficient absent the protection of human rights. Near absent from these debates is another central question animating the rule of law and its relationship to rights: the how of the guarantee, promotion, and protection of rights in law. This essay seeks to illustrate why this concern for the relationship between means and ends should be at the centre of debates surrounding the relationship of rights to the rule of law.