In this system of laws, criteria (standards) were set up to judge bureaucrats’ behavior. Deviance from the rules was thus discouraged.
In Shen’s Legalist system of laws, the ruler appears to completely acquiesce (following the Daoist ideal of non-resistence) in seemingly merging his interests with the public’s needs.
But through this non-action (wuwei) he was actually supposed to maintain complete order from behind the scenes.