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 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), 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, 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 mechanical analog computer * Rule of inference or transformation rule, a term in logic for a function which takes premises and returns a conclusion * Phrase structure rule 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

Law and government

* Advance tax ruling, 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 by the federal government of the United States, a regulation mandated by Congress, but written or expanded upon by the executive branch * Law, which may informally be called a "rule" * Military rule, governance by a military body * Monastic rule, a collection of precepts that guides the life of monks or nuns in a religious order * Procedural law, 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, Texas

Literature

* '' The Rules'', bestselling self-help book * ''Rules'' (novel), 2007 Newbery Honor book by Cynthia Lord * " The Rulers", a science fiction short story by A. E. van Vogt

Music

* Ja Rule (born 1976), hip hop artist

Albums

* '' R.U.L.E.'', by Ja Rule, 2004 * ''Rule'', by Anna Tsuchiya, 2010 * ''Rules'' (album), by the Whitest Boy Alive, 2009 * ''Rules'', by First Blood, 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 * 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