I'd say OP actually talked about two different things. The abstract description in the first paragraph is the rule of law (which I agree happened a long time ag

I'd say OP actually talked about two different things. The abstract description in the first paragraph is the rule of law (which I agree happened a long time ago, and is a good thing for a democratic society), but the concrete gripe in the later paragraphs is a different thing. Rather, it's something like the difference between laws applying to individuals who may violate normative behavior ("it's illegal to steal"), or whether laws (in this context aka "regulations") apply continuously to above board businesses, with the goal of a priori preventing individual violations of normative behavior ("it's illegal to make a car that can be easily stolen").