Rule of law and Public Administration impartiality in the Italian legal system: points of reflection following the new anti-corruption law of 2012

The Rule of Law is a controversial issue that, even it has been accepted as a characterising element in the majority of the modern legal systems, offers no standardized definition. Maybe, it is possible to identify it on the basis of an inductive analysis that, starting from its main indicatives prerequisites, try to understand the essence of it. For this reason, verifying some of the specific features that make reference to the Rule of Law, it is possible to define its contours and to outline accordingly its ability to influence the functioning legal systems’ dynamics it inspired. In general, it seems possible to start from some elements that represent both the fundamental reasons and the objectives related to the Rule of Law concept. First of all, it is necessary to avoid the Hobbesian war of everybody against everybody. Second of all, it is needed to allow the partners to direct their legal actions in order to anticipate the legal consequences related to them.  Finally, it is necessary to establish the right safeguards against the arbitrariness of public officials. The above-mentioned needs come from a common demand: the need for legal rules. This can be further defined specifying that this must concern fair, stable and impartial rules. As an initial approach, it is possible to affirm that the Rule of Law implies that the government of men have to be exercised within the limits of laws, which have to be able to conduct the human nature. The basic content of this concept, thus, requires that the government will be implemented by means of general application rules, the appropriate legal certainty is provided and the principle that nobody is above the law have to be effective... (segue)