http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LawfulEvil
Bringing order to the galaxy. Even if we have to force choke the shit out of it.
"Peace through tyranny."
— Megatron
"To instill fear is to instill order. Our order."
— Green Lantern Arch Enemy Sinestro
Lawful Evil comes in two flavors. They are villains who believe either in keeping order at all costs, or that it's much easier to become ruler of the world by exploiting the existing system than by tearing it down and starting anew. If the villain is supreme ruler of their realm, then they are probably either Lawful Evil or The Caligula. This is the canonical alignment of devils in Dungeons and Dragons. Lawful Evil can be the most dangerous alignment because it represents intentional, methodical and frequently successful evil.
The second type is a baddie with a code of honor that prevents them from doing truly heinous things. The second type tends to either perform a Heel Face Turn or suffer death by redemption. These tend to be reliable allies in an Enemy Mine situation where alignments would fizzle out. The alternative is that they ultimately choose evil over this and cross the Moral Event Horizon.
A variety are evil characters who don't care if what they do is "heinous" or "horrible", but who will always follow certain rules. Such characters are, for example:
A warlord who would kill anyone who threatens him — and, let's say, would always spare the enemies that can serve him; or a Complete Monster who believes in playing by the story conventions; or a villain whose word is absolutely binding but would still kill a pregnant woman; or any kind of evil character that might commit mass genocide but for some reason Will Not Tell A Lie. Or a character who does, without flinching, anything their master orders them to do, anything, because their one rule is absolute obedience.
Remember, being Lawful does not imply at all you have moral standards, and any one of these character archetypes have just as much potential as a Chaotic Evil character to be truly despicable. A rare case includes Lawful evil characters that simply hate freedom and will enslave people out of malice. While Neutral Evil villains will alternately follow or break the rules depending on what benefits them the most, those of a Lawful Evil alignment may themselves be more or less rigorous about following the law (or at least the letter thereof; often only insofar as to be able to hide their sinister motivations) as to their benefit, but are generally overzealous in keeping others in line - such as anyone who exploits legal loopholes, or at least sufficiently covers their own ass, and flies into a rage should anyone else be (provably) caught cheating. It is, after all, much easier to get what you want with some laws in place, and an army of jackbooted thugs making sure things go your way. Expect lots of You Have Failed Me when it's time for quarterly downsizing.
An Obstructive Bureaucrat may be Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil, depending on their motivations for what they do. A Lawful Evil bureaucrat may take perverse pleasure in strangling the heroes with red tape and burying them in as much paperwork as possible, or may abuse the laws and their position to benefit themselves as much as possible at other people's expense while staying within the letter of the rules (if not their spirit). A Lawful Neutral version will simply insist that everything has to be done by the book because laws are there to be followed. At some point, expect a Lawful Evil Villain With Good Publicity to run a propaganda campaign painting La Resistance (the Ragtag Bunch Of Chaotic Good Misfits) as the "true" evil.
"Ya can hoot, ya can holla-make any noise ya like! But if ya cant chant, oh if ya cant chant, well…ya no cult o' mine!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7movKfyTBII
~Ishkokum Mes Mosof She'res~
"Congratulations, you can link to TV Tropes. This does not mean you have special insight into the storytelling process, much less the author's mind. Stories don't need to fit into neat boxes, you know.
