The rule of law can be understood in the context of "end-means" and is therefore a matter related to reason (choice), and since choice is always individual, the starting point of the rule of law is the action of people with a purpose.
The rule of law is a utilitarian concept in economics, which refers to a specific rationality that enables people to make a "choice", that is, to "choose" and establish institutions that contribute to the general improvement of individual happiness, or to eliminate those institutions that hinder the general improvement of individual happiness, and the process of the rule of law is the process of people's choice under the control of this reason.
This rationality is not innate, but is acquired through the knowledge of the "principle of spontaneous order". If people do not have such rationality, then the institutions that hinder the general increase of individual happiness may persist for a long time because they are not subject to the scrutiny of such reason, and people may even construct institutions that hinder spontaneous order, which is what Hayek called legal positivism, which implies wrong choice or irrationality.
It is particularly important that the purpose of the rule of law is to guarantee a spontaneous order, rather than a given order or a specific system. It has been said that if a given order or a specific system is guaranteed, it must not be "rule of law". In other words, the concept of the rule of law is based on "spontaneous order", which is also Hayek's idea of the rule of lawThe rule of law mentioned by Hayek is derived from the theoretical basis of spontaneous order, that is, based on the theoretical basis of spontaneous order. As far as Hayek is concerned, it is only in this particular sense that the rule of law is truly not a limitation of freedom, but a link to the realization of freedom. It is only in this way that it can be said that 'the rule of law provides a standard for judging whether measures are compatible with a liberal system'. ”Since the rule of law is developed with an eye on spontaneous order, it necessarily requires people to recognize and follow the principle of spontaneous order.
Hayek also believed that an important role of the rule of law is to "provide a standard of judgment", saying that "it provides a standard by which we can distinguish between those measures that are consistent with the liberal system and those that are not." In this sense, he is also a priori. He went on to say that the rule of law is a sine qua non "for the satisfactory functioning of a free economy".
Hayek also believed that the key to a well-functioning economy is a stable and continuous legal framework that clearly regulates all coercive actions to be taken. And it is this legal framework that allows individuals to maintain a degree of confidence in making plans, and also minimizes artificial uncertainty. Here, Hayek points to the important role of the rule of law, which "enables individuals to plan with a degree of confidence and minimizes uncertainty about the outlook". Only in this way can a society's economy develop sustainably and steadily.
If in a society where people generally do not regard spontaneous order as an important goal of their own, and therefore do not use the principle of spontaneous order to test and examine their system, but maintain some kind of existing order, then we have reason to think that such a society is not "ruled by law". The rule of law is defined in terms of "guaranteeing a spontaneous order", not "guaranteeing a given order". Guaranteeing a given order, whether it is a historically generated order or an artificially constructed order of the present, is incompatible with the "rule of law". Because maintaining a given order means "mandatory". Although coercion is also required to guarantee spontaneous order, the content of this coercion is not the same as that of maintaining a given order, the former imposing general rules and rules consistent with general rules, which are also called "laws", which constitute the conditions for individual freedom, while the latter are restrictions on individual freedom.
Everyone's actions are shaping the law, and what kind of rationality they have is shaping what kind of law. If people want to have laws that improve their situation generally, then they should apply this rationality. Under the influence of this rationality, the "rule of law" will unfold as a process. The concrete results of this process, i.e., specific empirical rules, are often not foreseen, which is what Hayek called "spontaneity".
The role of this rationality is not to directly produce such concrete, evolutionary rules, but to secure a framework of spontaneous order in which concrete empirical rules arise. The framework itself is abstract, in the process of evolution, and is the result of human action. It can be seen that the rule of law is a process of action, and it is not static and constructed.