What Rendered Ancient Tyrants Detestable: The Rule of Law and the Constitution of Corporate Power

Abstract

The phrase "corporate tyranny" might seem to be nothing more than empty rhetoric, a muscular slogan with a plausible ring, but one lacking principled roots in the great tradition of political language which it echoes. In this Article, I aim to show that, on the contrary, it is indeed meaningful to apply the term tyranny in connection with contemporary corporate power-meaningful, that is, according to the criteria governing the use of that term within the limited government tradition's Rule of Law discourse. I also aim to demonstrate that, according to traditional criteria, certain terms used to lament the harms occasioned by manipulative state power-namely, arbitrariness, slavishness and corruption-might plausibly be employed against the large business corporation. The implications are significant. If the present constitution of corporate power were shown to be hospitable to those ills, then the legitimacy of corporate power would have been called into question on distinctive Rule of Law grounds. The notion that economic power is a limited government problem was a central and recurrent theme in public debates in the United States from the American Revolution until the middle of the twentieth century. Since then, however, the notion of "limited government" has become synonymous with the limitation of state, rather than "private", power; indeed, "limited government" has become a byword for the social philosophy that professes a belief in "small government"-a philosophy which, in effect, supports

The role of constitutional policy in the formation of a democratic society and the rule of law in the conditions of the Russian legal system

“…If, on examining the matter, the constitutional review authority finds that, within specific social relations, regulation designed by another governmental authority does not contradict the constitutional act, but has room for improvement (including in the previously discussed context of a proportionality test where constitutional review verifies whether a regulation restricting human rights and freedoms is constitutional), the constitutional review authority, wishing to restrain itself, does not explain in its decision which kind of regulation is more appropriate (effective, efficient, etc.) to achieve the goal declared by the governmental authority that has adopted the relevant act (Sempill 2018).…”

Poder atemperado. Cómo pensar, y no pensar, sobre el Estado de Derecho

“…Se trata de términos políticos, y tradicionalmente el Estado de Derecho se ha debatido principalmente en relación con el poder político. Pero esta cuestión de si hay alguna razón en principio para limitar la discusión de esa manera será tratada más adelante -y en otras partes (Krygier, 2017a;Sempill, 2018)-y mi respuesta es que no.…”

Googling the equivalence of private arbitrary power and state arbitrary power: why the Rule of Law does not relate to private relationships

“…Lest we miss their importance, Locke was kind enough to italicise the phrases quoted here.7For a contrary view, seeSempill (2017;2018).…”