What is the rule of law?

A writer for the NY Times apparently has no clue what the rule of law is. The rule of law basically means that we are governed by law, that everyone is under the law, and that we are not subject to capricious and arbitrary punishment or reward based on the whims of a ruler.

Here is the definition of Kate Zernike, a reporter for the NY Times:

“the rule of law,” Hayek’s term for the unwritten code that prohibits the government from interfering with the pursuit of “personal ends and desires.”

It is hard to imagine that someone in the Times proofreading staff or oneof the editors would let that be printed .... unless, no one on the payroll of the NY Times knows that we are supposed to be governed by laws rather than by dictators who make it up as they go along.