Rule of man is absence of rule of law

Rule of law

The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...

. It is a society in which one person, or a group of persons

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...

, rules arbitrarily.
The Sovereign exercises absolute authority and is not bound by any law

Anomie

Anomie is a term meaning "without Law" to describe a lack of social norms; "normlessness". It describes the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and their community ties, with fragmentation of social identity and rejection of self-regulatory values. It was popularized by French...

, he as a person stands outside law. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...

 advocated such a society, saying that a society would be better if it had one absolute monarch

Monarch

A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

 as he would be free to choose and do what he thinks is best for the society without taking into account the opinions of others.

Others dissent by historical evidence that points in the opposing direction claiming the impermanence of the systems brought on by dictators like Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

, Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 and Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

which are remembered in having fared more by despotism than government system and thereby typifying the exertion of "rule of man" within their reigns. The results of which comprised violations to internationally recognized basic human rights. Relating the common inference of warning against the utility of such regimes that many have cited within the adage that Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

External links

http://books.google.com/books?ei=-C2JTPL-GorqOPLk0YAO&ct=result&id=ULVCAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Rule+of+man%22+hobbes&q=%22Rule+of+man%22#search

http://books.google.com/books?id=b3AhRE6JR1AC&pg=PA88&dq=%22Rule+of+man%22+china&hl=en&ei=nC6JTMPMCcuKOLnjtMcO&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Rule%20of%20man%22%20china&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=NTG7ZkdmC5sC&pg=PA54&dq=%22Rule+of+man%22+confucius&hl=en&ei=LS-JTLonko84_bz1kg4&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Rule%20of%20man%22%20confucius&f=false