Civic eudaimonia, judicial virtue and the aretaic rule of law

Tomasz Widłak

Chapter 9 in Virtues and the Rule of Law, 2026, pp 164-185 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The chapter argues that illiberal actors can exploit both formal and substantive conceptions of the rule of law through procedural manipulation and thick rights rhetoric. To transcend these limitations, it develops an Aristotelian aretaic approach grounded in the teleological notion of eudaimonia. The analysis distinguishes individual from civic flourishing and assesses how different constitutional forms affect their overlap. It then proposes a threefold framework for the rule of law: (1) law must rule rather than personal will because its generality and prospectivity curb arbitrariness of power; (2) legal institutions should aim at collective eudaimonia while harmonising with individual flourishing; and (3) the rule of law depends on the virtue and ethos of public officials – essentially judges – whose practical wisdom and justice anchor legal practice. The chapter concludes that fostering a robust legal culture and professional ethos is essential to realising this teleological, virtue-oriented ideal of the rule of law.

Keywords: Rule of Law; Eudaimonia; Legal Culture; Judicial Virtue; Judicial Ethos (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035398072
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