All Posts Tagged With: "law"
The Pursuit of Justice: The Law and Economics of Legal Institutions
Public Choice analysis is the application of economic reasoning—principally the idea that human action is primarily self-interested—to questions drawn from politics and government. It was famously described by James Buchanan as “politics without romance.” To date most Public Choice research has focused on the behavior of political actors. Less attention has been paid to the behavior [...]
30Nov2011 | Michael DeBow | 18 comments | ContinuedLaw Did Not Predate Commerce
Best quote I’ve seen today: Law and commerce were indelibly linked in the thought of David Hume, who argued that it is commerce itself that gives rise to notions of justice between people and peoples. Although commerce is today typically seen as something which is proactively enabled by law, it is much more accurate historically [...]
7Aug2009 | Sheldon Richman | 6 comments | ContinuedSotomayor, Freedom, and the Law
The dreary Senate hearing on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court left me so in the doldrums that my only chance for solace was to dig out my copy of Freedom and the Law (1961) by Bruno Leoni. Leoni (1913-1967) was a professor of legal theory and a lawyer in [...]
17Jul2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Rule of Lore
“This is a nation of laws not of men (and women).” With the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, we will be hearing that a lot in the coming weeks. The nomination of a Supreme Court justice occasions much public debate over exactly what judges are supposed to do—and not do. Thus [...]
29May2009 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | ContinuedTGIF: The Rule of Lore
“This is a nation of laws not of men (and women).” We will be hearing a lot about that in the coming weeks. The rest of TGIF, “The Rule of Lore,” is here.
29May2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedLost in Transcription
Following rules, such as the rules of language, of the market, or of just conduct, is more about “knowing how” than “knowing that.” This is a lesson taught by many important thinkers, among them, Gilbert Ryle (who used these terms in the title of chapter 2 of The Concept of Mind), F.A. Hayek, and Ludwig [...]
22Aug2008 | Sheldon Richman | 5 comments | ContinuedLaw and Property: The Best Hope for Liberty?
There is little left of the conventional protections for individualism in the modern world. Whatever theoretical virtues there may be in democracy (and there aren’t many1), in practice it has disintegrated into a struggle among self-regarding interest groups, mediated by government, over wealth that is exclusively created by private individuals.
1Jul2003 | Norman Barry | 1 comment | ContinuedHarmony from Liberty
Contributing editor Norman Barry is professor of social and political theory at the University of Buckingham in the UK. He is the author of An Introduction to Modern Political Theory (St. Martin’s Press). As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frédéric Bastiat we are reminded once again of how much contemporary economic [...]
1Jun2001 | Norman Barry | 2 comments | ContinuedHayek Turns 100
Economics captivated me from the moment that I first saw on a chalkboard a supply-and-demand graph. That was in January of 1977. I was then an 18-year-old college freshman at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. I immediately took to pestering my economics professors for suggestions on what to read in economics. One of my [...]
1May1999 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 2 comments | ContinuedWhere Does Law Come From?
This article draws from a research project supported by the Earhart Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, and the Independent Institute. The legal scholar Lon Fuller defined law as “the enterprise of subjecting human conduct to the governance of rules.” It includes basic rules of conduct as well as institutions or mechanisms for clarifying, changing, [...]
1Dec1997 | Bruce L. Benson | 5 comments | ContinuedAlexis de Tocqueville: How People Gain Liberty and Lose It
Alexis de Tocqueville was a gentleman-scholar who emerged as one of the world’s great prophets. More than a century and a half ago, when most people were ruled by kings, he declared that the future belonged to democracy. He explained what was needed for democracy to work and how it could help protect human liberty. At the same time, he warned that a welfare state could seduce people into servitude. He saw why socialism must lead to slavery.
1Jul1996 | Jim Powell | 0 comments | ContinuedBastiat, Liberty, and The Law
“The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” —Frederic Bastiat Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the friends of liberty. There is no mystery here to be solved. The key to Bastiat’s appeal is the integrity and elegance [...]
1May1996 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedJury Law of the Road
Dr. Baker is Professor of Political Science, School of American Studies, Harding College, Searcy, Arkansas.Much is heard today about judge-made law. This type of legislation is created in a somewhat negative fashion. It comes into being through a court decision vacating on constitutional grounds a policy established by the legislature and thereby in effect instating [...]
1Sep1956 | Richard C. Baker | 0 comments | ContinuedOur Principles of Freedom Must Stand
Mr. Gambrell, of Atlanta, Georgia, is President of the American Bar Association during 1955-1956. This article is based upon his address before the Georgia Bar Association, December 8, 1955, in Atlanta. Concerning the importance of limitations upon the powers of government. For 300 years the American people have cherished the spiritual concept that the rights [...]
1Aug1956 | E. Smythe Gambrell | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Review: An Economic History of England: The 18th Century by T. S. Ashton
New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc. 257 pp. $4.00. Despite the romanticism of folk tales, life was far from idyllic in the days when Jack-of-the-Beanstalk and his young contemporaries trudged along picturesque country lanes, leading the family cow or pigs to market. Conditions changed slowly in those times. Before 1700 life was pretty much the [...]
1Jul1956 | Bettina Bien Greaves | 0 comments | ContinuedA Decree Of Racial Inferiority
F. A. Harper is a member of the staff of the Foundation for Economic Education. The decision of the Supreme Court on the issue of segregation in the public schools is commonly being heralded as a body blow at racial discrimination. One not a lawyer should hardly presume to question a legal decision of the [...]
1May1955 | F. A. Harper | 0 comments | Continued-
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