The decline of gospel

In the tradition of continental European legal development, the main objective ofshaping the rules has been to develop codified forms, structures, procedures, individual rights and principles as safeguards for equal and predictable justice (‘rule based law’). This is the way the long-prevailing ideology has had it, but whether the tradition has consistently and constantly been followed in political practice is a matter of controversial debate. The tradition is reflected by the ‘eternal ’ debate between legal positivism and natural justice concerning the core of the rule of law. The so called formal rationality of the legal system – the demand for coherence of the system and its principles and for adhering to the wording of rules – has always been subjected to the scrutiny of critical legal studies. Formal rationality has been criticised both by the conservative approaches to the ‘substance of justice ’ and by modern societal technology that uses law as a highly adaptative means to an end. However, nobody can deny that the excessive use of indefinite provisions or blanket clauses and vague procedures for the balancing of public interests and individual rights should have served as a warning sign that essential changes were in progress in the legal system. These changes are related to the overrating of interests of powe