1. A method of controlling document access using centrally managed rules, the method comprising: distributing a first plurality of rules to a client system from a central rule database, wherein the first plurality of rules distributed to the client system contain at least one expression used by the client system to perform access control for documents accessed by the client system, and wherein the client system rule distributing step dynamically selects the first plurality of rules for the client system; distributing a second plurality of rules to a server from the central rule database, wherein the second plurality of rules distributed to the server contain at least one expression used by the server to perform access control for documents stored on the server, wherein the server rule distributing step dynamically selects the second plurality of rules for the server, and wherein rules in the central rule database are maintained by a central rule server.