Aristotle's Rule Of Law Essay

The fundamental fact that decides the type of regime and, by extension, the type of laws that the regime should have is the structure of authority in the regime.
The two most common types of regimes are democracy and oligarchy. All regimes desire to be wealthy, therefore all regimes are oligarchical to some extent, but more specifically oligarchies are regimes where the wealthy rule. Democracies on the other hand are defined as the rule of the majority, which is assuming that the majority ruling are the poor. One main point that Aristotle usually refers back to about the possible arrangements for regimes is that the rule of law is fundamental to all regimes. Without the rule of law, there is no regime, as Aristotle states: "for where the laws do not rule there is no regime." He also mentions that "the law should rule in all matters, while the offices and the regime should judge in particular cases." Aristotle does recognize that law has limitations, that being it cannot specify how it should be applied to each
The citizens of the community are partners who together pursue a common good like any other kind of partnership would. The highest good of all in a city is the virtue and happiness of the citizens within it, and the main purpose of any city is to make it allows the citizens to achieve these goods. When discussing the ideal city, he says "[A] city is excellent, at any rate, by its citizens' - those sharing in the regime – being excellent; and in our case all the citizens share in the regime" (1332a34) This is known as what Aristotle refers to as ‘telos’, more accurately it refers to something such as a purpose, or a goal, or a final end. He also believed that everything had a telos and this can even include polis and their final end is to help their citizens achieve virtue and happiness. Therefore a strong regime is one that looks after its citizens and allows them to achieve virtue and