Rule or ruling may refer to:

Human activity

* The exercise of

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

or personal control by someone with authority or power *

Business rule A business rule defines or constrains some aspect of a business. It may be expressed to specify an action to be taken when certain conditions are true or may be phrased so it can only resolve to either true or false. Business rules are intended to a ...

, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business * School rule, a rule that is part of school discipline * Sport rule, a rule that defines how a sport is played *

Game rule A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art (s ...

, a rule that defines how a game is played *

Morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

, a rule or element of a moral code for guiding choices in human behavior *

Norm (philosophy) Norms are concepts ( sentences) of practical import, oriented to affecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply "ought-to" (or "may", "may not") types of statements and asse ...

, a kind of sentence or a reason to act, feel or believe *

Social norm A social norm is a shared standard of acceptance, acceptable behavior by a group. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social norma ...

, explicit or implicit rules used within society or by a group *

Rule of thumb In English language, English, the phrase ''rule of thumb'' refers to an approximate method for doing something, based on practical experience rather than theory. This usage of the phrase can be traced back to the 17th century and has been associat ...

, a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation *

Unspoken rule Unwritten rules, also called unspoken rules, are behavioral constraints imposed in organizations or societies that are not typically voiced or written down. They usually exist in unspoken and unwritten format because they form a part of the logi ...

, an assumed rule of human behavior that is not voiced or written down

Science

Ruler A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the instr ...

or "rule"; a distance measuring device *

Slide rule A slide rule is a hand-operated mechanical calculator consisting of slidable rulers for conducting mathematical operations such as multiplication, division, exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is one of the simplest analog ...

, a mechanical analog computer *

Rule of inference Rules of inference are ways of deriving conclusions from premises. They are integral parts of formal logic, serving as norms of the Logical form, logical structure of Validity (logic), valid arguments. If an argument with true premises follows a ...

or transformation rule, a term in logic for a function which takes premises and returns a conclusion *

Phrase structure rule Phrase structure rules are a type of rewrite rule used to describe a given language's syntax and are closely associated with the early stages of transformational grammar, proposed by Noam Chomsky in 1957. They are used to break down a natural langu ...

or rewrite rule, used in some theories of linguistics * "Rule ''X''" elementary cellular automaton, where X is a number between 0-255 characterizing a specific model (e.g. ''Rule 110'') *

Phonological rule A phonological rule is a formal way of expressing a systematic phonological or morphophonological process in linguistics. Phonological rules are commonly used in generative phonology as a notation to capture sound-related operations and computati ...

Law and government

Advance tax ruling An advance tax ruling is a tool for multinational corporations A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or statel ...

, a tool for conforming taxation arrangements *

Court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

, a decision by a court *

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

* In

rulemaking In administrative law, rulemaking is the process that executive and independent agencies use to create, or ''promulgate'', regulations. In general, legislatures first set broad policy mandates by passing statutes, then agencies create more de ...

by the federal government of the United States, a regulation mandated by Congress, but written or expanded upon by the executive branch *

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, which may informally be called a "rule" * Military rule, governance by a military body *

Monastic rule Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

, a collection of precepts that guides the life of monks or nuns in a religious order *

Procedural law Procedural law, adjective law, in some jurisdictions referred to as remedial law, or rules of court, comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil procedure, civil, lawsuit, criminal procedure, criminal or admini ...

, a ruleset governing the application of laws to cases *

Rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, government based not on arbitrary decisions of officials but on laws

Geography

Rule, Arkansas Rule is an unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or a ...

Rule, Texas Rule is a town in Haskell County, Texas, United States. The population was 561 at the 2020 census, down from 636 at the 2010 census. The community was named for W. A. Rule, a railroad man. Geography Rule is in western Haskell County at the in ...

Literature

* ''

The Rules ''The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right'' is a self-help book by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, originally published in 1995. The book suggests rules that a woman should follow in order to attract and marry the m ...

'', bestselling self-help book * ''Rules'' (novel), 2007 Newbery Honor book by Cynthia Lord * "

The Rulers ''The Rulers'' is a golden age science fiction short story by A. E. van Vogt, originally published in '' Astounding'' in March 1946. It was included in several anthologies, including 1952's '' Destination: Universe!''. Plot Dr. Alexander Latham ...

", a science fiction short story by A. E. van Vogt

Music

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known for blending gangsta rap with pop rap, pop and contempo ...

(born 1976), hip hop artist

Albums

* '' R.U.L.E.'', by Ja Rule, 2004 * ''Rule'', by

Anna Tsuchiya is a Japanese singer, actress and semi-retired model. Since 2005, she is primarily known as a singer.Oricon p ...

, 2010 * ''Rules'' (album), by the Whitest Boy Alive, 2009 * ''Rules'', by

First Blood ''First Blood'' is a 1982 American war action film starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, the film was co-written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim, and Stallone, deriving from the 1972 no ...

, 2017 * ''Rules!'', by Manila Luzon, 2019

Songs

* "Rule" (Nas song), 2001 * "Rule"/"Sparkle", a double A-side by Ayumi Hamasaki, 2009 * "Rule", by X Ambassadors from '' Orion'', 2019 * "Rules" (Doja Cat song), 2019 * "Rules" (KMFDM song), 1996 * "Rules", by Shakira from '' Laundry Service'', 2001 * "The Rules", by XO-IQ, featured in the television series ''

Make It Pop ''Make It Pop'' is a Canadian musical comedy series created by Thomas W. Lynch and Nick Cannon that aired on Nickelodeon from March 26, 2015 to August 20, 2016. The series stars Megan Lee, Louriza Tronco, Erika Tham, and Dale Whibley. ...

Other uses

* Rule (surname) * ''The Rule'' (film), a 2014 American documentary * ''Ruler'' (film), a 2019 India Telugu-language film * '' Pushpa: The Rule'', a 2024 Indian period action film * '' Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula'', a 2003 Bollywood film * rule: a snippet of code which can perform

email filtering Email filtering is the processing of email to organize it according to specified criteria. The term can apply to the intervention of human intelligence, but most often refers to the automatic processing of messages at an SMTP server, possibly ap ...

* Rule (horse) (born 2007), American racehorse * Rules (restaurant), upscale English restaurant in London * '' Rules!'', a 2014 iOS video game * "Rule #1" (''Batwoman'') * Royal University of Law and Economics, a university in Cambodia