Rechtsstaat is a concept in continental European legal thinking, originally borrowed from German jurisprudence, which literally means a "rule of law state" or "constitutional state". It is a state in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by the law, and is often tied to the Anglo-American concept of the rule of law. In a Rechtsstaat, the power of the state is limited in order to protect citizens from the arbitrary exercise of authority. In a Rechtsstaat the citizens share both… (More on Rechtsstaat)