Legal codes are more or less ubiquitous. Legal codes, law enforcement, a system of courts and methods of punishment are fundamental to the mechanics of rule, no matter whether by monarchs, oligarchs, or any democratic form of government.
Perhaps one innovation is that western law codes create impersonal associations with legal rights and obligations that are independent of individuals or government offices, e.g. the corporation. These enable greater collective action to compete.
“Perhaps one innovation is that western law codes create impersonal associations with legal rights and obligations that are independent of individuals or government offices, e.g. the corporation. These enable greater collective action to compete.”
That’s what is meant by the “rule of law” - that it applies to everyone equally, including the “monarch”.
Definition:
Rule of Law - “The doctrine that no individual is above the law and that everyone must answer to it.”
There is another very important ingredient that may or may not be by default part of the “rule of law”. And that’s the right to private property and its protection by the law.