Proclamation 3791—World Law Day, 1967

Our Nation is committed to the Rule of Law. A government of laws, rather than of men, is the very essence of our society.

The Rule of Law in our tradition, demands that

—Men be entitled to the government and the representatives of their choice.

—No citizen be above the law.

—Justice be administered by an independent judicial system.

—Disputes be fairly resolved by peaceful means.

We wish that relations among nations, as among individual citizens, were always governed by the Rule of Law—that disputes among nations were always adjudicated peacefully—that nations could learn to live with their differences as law-abiding neighbors.

One step in making this vision a reality is the joining together of the best judicial and legal minds of many nations. Many men of such eminence will assemble in Geneva on July 10, 1967, for the World Conference of World Peace Through Law. While other meetings will command more headlines, none will meet for a more important purpose.

It is especially fitting in these times of strife that we salute those who seek to establish the rule of law as a standard for the world.

Our best wishes are with this conference, as it assembles to promote the role of law and legal institutions in the resolution of international disputes and the maintenance of world peace. We join our fellow men throughout the world in reaffirming our commitment to the principles of international justice—and our hope that all men may find the wisdom to implement them.

Now, Therefore, I, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States of America, in order to advance the great goal of achieving and securing world peace, do hereby proclaim July 10, 1967, as World Law Day, and I call upon all public and private officials, members of the legal profession, citizens, and all men of good will to demonstrate the importance of the law in mankind's quest for world peace by appropriate observances and ceremonies in courts, schools, universities, and other public places.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of July in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-seven, and the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and ninety-first.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON