David Dyzenhaus is a Professor of Law and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.
Dyzenhaus is the world’s foremost scholar of the role of the rule of law in societies under stress.
The rule of law governs how we relate to each other and to the state. In its absence, governments may act arbitrarily, for example, imprisoning people without trial. It is one of the foundations of democracy, but is now under threat worldwide.
In focusing on contexts less secure than established democracies, including apartheid South Africa and Germany prior to the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Dyzenhaus examined the resources inherent in the law for responding to threats to the rule of law, profoundly altering our understanding of that ideal. By developing the idea that the rule of law is an inherently moral idea, he has contributed to an understanding of the rule of law within and beyond academia.
Dyzenhaus demonstrated that legal theory is not only of scholarly interest, since it also has practical implications, enabling lawyers, judges and other legal actors to navigate their way through difficult moral dilemmas, thus assisting a society to maintain a stable democratic order, a precondition for individuals and communities to flourish. His work has spurred courts and policy makers to rethink the rule of law, and his writings are a powerful and respected reference point in the international debates about the rule of law.
