Rules-based order > Ruler-based order

I always think, though not in the context of war crimes, how two friends of mine related in Basic Training that the drill instructors would give them strict orders to not let anyone through on guard duty who didn’t meet some criteria or another, and then other instructors would come by and attempt to badger and bamboozle the poor trainee soldier into letting them through (and God help any who was stupid enough to let them through).

Rules can be inflexible, but they’re also a barrier against arbitrary abuses. Our abuses have to be regular and systemic, dammit!