The very function of law is to bring stability and order to the group of people that the laws are enforced upon. For a legal system to work for a society, the laws must be knowable, fair and implemented equally among the population. Compliance is impossible without knowing the laws, and knowing the laws is impossible without them being relatively stationary and fixed. The rule of law as a system requires not only the written laws themselves, but also the institutions and people that enforce the laws and adjudicate those accused of breaking those laws. At the enforcement and judgmental stages, the law can become more adaptable to the particular circumstances.

In the beginning, laws became necessary as civilizations began to develop. One of the earliest known set of laws was known as Urukagina's Code, developed in 2350 B.C. by Mesopotamian kings. These were the first known laws that allowed normal citizens to know what types of actions would be punished and the penalties that could be expected for violating those laws. From that time onward, human societies have tried to perfect a legal system through such famous documents as the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the Constitution of the United States of America, and more recently, the World Trade Organization's international trade agreements. Despite the centuries that separate them, they all have in common that they were written down as rules of law and relatively fixed and unchangeable. This allowed the members of a society to know how they were expected to behave, and in most cases, what rights they had under that particular governmental system.

Furthermore, these written documents showed that as a general rule of fairness, the laws had to be knowable and at least in theory, equally applicable to certain segments of the population. The popular expression "ignorance of the law is no excuse" would not be practicable if the laws were not written and available for those who are to comply with them. Without written and published laws, ignorance of the law would be an excuse, for an individual would have no way of knowing what the laws required. In addition, the laws needed to be fixed and stable so that they could be equally applied (in theory) to everyone. Frequent changes, especially those that were made in response to particular circumstances, times and places, would make for an unworkable legal system. No one could no what to expect from the law because no one could no what the law would be on a certain date or under certain circumstances.

However, in reality, the law is adaptable and flexible in certain situations, places and times. Although the written rules of law must be fixed and seldom changed, the people that enforce the laws, as well as those who judge those who break the laws, have a certain amount of built-in discretion to see that justice is done. A policeman can usually decide, depending on the particular circumstances of a situation, whether to make an arrest or give a verbal warning. Once charged with a crime, the prosecutor can make the decision whether to prosecute the offense or dismiss the charges. Even during a trial, the judges and juries have wide discretion in most cases to adjust the punishment to the individual situation. It is in the enforcement and judicial stages that laws and punishments can be made flexible to allow justice to be served.

In conclusion, without fast and hard rules of law, a society cannot be expected to be able to comply with those laws. Certain standards for enforcement and judgment must of course be followed, but with a certain amount of discretion allowed to make sure that, although justice is blind, it is not stupid.

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