Property Rights Systems and the Rule of Law, page 8 and dictatorial impulses that often correlate with welfare-reduc cing rules, the rule of law can be associated with some substantive welfare-enhancing qualities These rule-of-law elements do not, however, assure that laws are wise or just The mind of man has been little able to devise precepts that provide coercive power to any group, under any structure, and assure that it will be used exclusively in ways that are wise and just. The focus of the rule of law is not to provide such assurance -neither through procedural requisites nor through definitional assertion- but merely to assure law-bounded qualities that tend in the direction of better and more just legal systems Adherence to the rule of law slows down changes in the system, increases the foresee ability of change, makes change less the product of one individuals will than of the more regularized and intricate interweaving of different wills and priorities. The rule of law is a commitment to limitations that guarantee greater stability rather than any specified end- point for law and for government. This process commitment is not the entirety of what one might desire of a legal system- the substance of the rules surely matters as well -but it is an important goal and one that needs attention even in the best, most law-abiding systems, systems that will tend to promote human liberty, security, and economic oppor- Property Rights Systems and Arbitrary rule people around the world instinctively recognize the differences among nations commit- ment to the rule of law. Western democracies generally rank high on this commitment and are characterized by a set of governance structures that limit individual, official power. But differences across nations, though intuitively evident, are less readily cap- tured by description of what does and does not comport with the rule of law than mightProperty Rights Systems and the Rule of Law, page 8 ________________________________________________________________________ and dictatorial impulses that often correlate with welfare-reducing rules, the rule of law can be associated with some substantive welfare-enhancing qualities.23 These rule-of-law elements do not, however, assure that laws are wise or just. The mind of man has been little able to devise precepts that provide coercive power to any group, under any structure, and assure that it will be used exclusively in ways that are wise and just. The focus of the rule of law is not to provide such assurance – neither through procedural requisites nor through definitional assertion – but merely to assure law-bounded qualities that tend in the direction of better and more just legal systems.24 Adherence to the rule of law slows down changes in the system, increases the foresee￾ability of change, makes change less the product of one individual’s will than of the more regularized and intricate interweaving of different wills and priorities. The rule of law is a commitment to limitations that guarantee greater stability rather than any specified end￾point for law and for government. This process commitment is not the entirety of what one might desire of a legal system – the substance of the rules surely matters as well – but it is an important goal and one that needs attention even in the best, most law-abiding systems, systems that will tend to promote human liberty, security, and economic oppor￾tunity. Property Rights Systems and Arbitrary Rule People around the world instinctively recognize the differences among nations’ commit￾ment to the rule of law. Western democracies generally rank high on this commitment and are characterized by a set of governance structures that limit individual, official power. But differences across nations, though intuitively evident, are less readily cap￾tured by description of what does and does not comport with the rule of law than might