Democracy as the Rule of Laws

According to Aeschines, an Athenian statesman, orator, and follower of Socrates, the defining characteristic of democracy is that it is rule by laws -- not rule by the people. In autocracies and oligarchies, in contrast, rule is by individuals and through intimidation. Again, there is a clear contrast between Aeschines' democracy and the political situation in the U.S., where rule by law isn't so simple. Not only have both political sides resorted to maneuvering, wrangling, and the intimidating presence of demonstrators, but the law-making and the law-interpreting bodies are sometimes at each other's throats.

"It is acknowledged, namely, that there are in the world three forms of government, autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy: autocracies and oligarchies are administered according to the tempers of their lords, but democratic states according to established laws. [5] And be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards. Men, therefore, who administer an oligarchy, or any government based on inequality, must be on their guard against those who attempt revolution by the law of force; but you, who have a government based upon equality and law, must guard against those whose words violate the laws or whose lives have defied them; for then only will you be strong, when you cherish the laws, and when the revolutionary attempts of lawless men shall have ceased."

Source:
Aeschines Against Timarchus

Features on Democracy in Ancient Greece and the Rise of Democracy