Rule of Law versus Rule of Man (Opinion)

What are the pros and cons to living in a society where the rule of man dominates the legal system? Would the rule of man be a better system than the rule of law in your opinion?

Rule of Law versus Rule of Man

Humans, through the method of trial and error, learned that organized society, in which matters are resolved through the process, allows life to nurture and facilitate its progress. During the different periods, different systems prevailed, and these systems produced interesting results to learn.  For Instance, humans learned that monarchy hinders human/civilization progress and when the element of justice is absent from a system, the system starts to decay and implode from inside. During the age of enlightenment, Renaissance and such other subsequent periods that are considered watersheds, it was learned that an evolution of society is directly associated with attributes such as Fair and Just.

The study of various civilizations around the globe also suggests that systems, where the element of justice was potent, they progressed quite swiftly. Therefore, in sacred texts too, there is an extraordinary stress on fairness and justice.

In my opinion, Rule of Man has serious challenges associated with it. One of the challenges is that a person or regime gradually starts to believe that it can do no wrong. Also, even if a dictator or regime acknowledges that certain modus operandi is wrong, it has never faced the true consequences of it, which slows the rate of progress. Another challenge, associated with it, is that it creates a class on which laws of that land do not apply. It triggers struggle against the status quo, which can lead to total collapse of the prevailing system and in the process may cause serious harm (loss of lives etc.).

The rule of Law is a system based on Check and Balances. It is developed to ensure that no wrong measure goes unpunished, which helps to create a just and fair society, where diverse thoughts can co-exist and work together for a better tomorrow. If the Rule of Law is being interpreted as Justice and Fairness, then it can be said that it is imperative for any system.