The ''État légal'' (English: "legal state"), also called "legicentric state", is a

doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

an legal thinking, originated in French constitutional studies, which argues for the primacy of the law over

constitutional rights A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...

. Contrary to the

police state A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the ...

– where the law is arbitrary, unequally applied, and its making outside of non-state control – and to the ''

Rechtsstaat ''Rechtsstaat'' (lit. "state of law"; "legal state") is a doctrine in continental European legal thinking, originating in Dutch and German jurisprudence. It can be translated into English as "rule of law", alternatively "legal state", state of ...

'' ("state of rights") – in which constitutional rights are viewed as preceding and superseding the authority of the law – the ''état légal'' is a form of

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannic ...

where the law is applied equally – i.e. to the people and to the state – ''as it is decided'', that is without or with reduced constitutional limits to the will of the law maker. In democratic regimes enforcing

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political sta ...

, the ''état légal'' gives absolute primacy to the decision of the majority of the voters – generally via their elected representatives – which can lead to decisions possibly detrimental to the rights of minorities or contrary to

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. As defined by constitutional jurist Dominique Rousseau, the ''état légal'' "subjects the executive power, administration and justice to the rule of law passed by Parliament, a rule which, as the expression of the

general will In political philosophy, the general will (french: volonté générale) is the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Basic ideas The phrase "general will", as Rousseau ...

, is indisputable and cannot therefore be judged."

Concept

The concept of ''état'' ''légal'' was theorized by French jurist

Raymond Carré de Malberg Raymond Carré de Malberg (1861–1935) was a French jurist and one of France's leading constitutional scholars. As professor of public law in Caen, Nancy and Strasbourg, Carré de Malberg developed a thorough positivist theory and critique of ...

in his 1920 book ''Contribution à la théorie générale de l'État''. He distinguished three differents forms of states: the

, in which the power acts freely in an arbitrary way; the "state of rights" (''état de droits'' or ''

''), where the authority of the law is limited by constitutional rights; and the "legal state" (''état légal''), a

which gives primacy to the authority of the law over constitutional rights. In a democratic state, where the power is entrusted to the people – generally via

– the difference between the ''état légal'' and the ''Rechtsstaat'' has a significant consequence. In the first situation, the decision of the majority is set in law ''as decided'', and thereafter applied by the state; whereas in the ''Rechsstaat'', the state (or the majority) is limited in the nature of the laws it is able to introduce by a set of rules protecting fundamental and minority rights (e.g., the American

constitutional amendments A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

, or the German constitutional fundamental rights).

References

{{Reflist Separation of powers Philosophy of law Theories of law