Appreciating the Rule of Law

I often think that living under the rule of law, even when the laws aren't perfect, is vastly under-appreciated.  My biggest example is the Roman Empire, where historically 100 million people lived the best lives ever until the 1700's or so.  This story of some Mexican towns "going vigilante"  reminds me again how difficult it is to secure the rule of law (i.e. of how many ways decent people could go wrong in trying to establish an objective system of law) and thus makes me appreciate it from that perspective too.