The human person, its inviolability and dignity, was, however, the dominating global concept at the time, particularly in international law. Any positive law, any constitution, is ultimately based on basic moral presuppositions. Early neoliberalism built its economic and political ideology on the same basic norm. Röpke explicitly said the economy was of “second rank,” the first rank being the imposition of a moral authority. Jacques Rueff could not have agreed more, for, he argued, if man did not impose a moral authority he would not be civilized. To avoid political catastrophes and too much arbitrary political will, the rule of law was conceptualized as a check on politics, taming it and keeping it within a set frame of norms and red lines. The rule of law was seen as the best way to guarantee the inviolability of the human person. Early neoliberals added the price mechanism to the formula: its smooth, unhampered running was the benchmark for the liberal society and economy.

Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, loc. 363