Design for liberty [electronic resource] : private property, public administration, and the rule of law / Richard A. Epstein.
Epstein, Richard A.
2011
K487.L5 E65 2011eb
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Title Design for liberty [electronic resource] : private property, public administration, and the rule of law / Richard A. Epstein.
Author Epstein, Richard A.
ISBN 9780674063051 electronic book
9780674061842
Imprint Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2011.
Language English
Description 1 online resource (x, 233 p.)
Call Number K487.L5 E65 2011eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 340/.11
Summary This book advocates a much smaller federal government, arguing that our over-regulated state allows too much discretion on the part of regulators, which results in arbitrary, unfair decisions, rent-seeking, and other abuses. The author bases his classical liberalism on the twin pillars of the rule of law and of private contracts and property rights--an overarching structure that allows private property to keep its form regardless of changes in population, tastes, technology, and wealth. This structure also makes possible a restrained public administration to implement limited objectives. Government continues to play a key role as night-watchman, but with the added flexibility in revenues and expenditures to attend to national defense and infrastructure formation. Although no legal system can eliminate the need for discretion in the management of both private and public affairs, predictable laws can cabin the zone of discretion and permit arbitrary decisions to be challenged. Joining a set of strong property rights with sound but limited public administration could strengthen the rule of law, with its virtues of neutrality, generality, clarity, consistency, and forward-lookingness, and reverse the contempt and cynicism that have overcome us.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Description based on print version record.
Available in Other Form Design for liberty.
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The traditional conception of the rule of law
Reasonableness standards and the rule of law
Where natural law and utilitarianism converge
Where natural law and utilitarianism diverge
Property rights in the grand social scheme
The bundle of rights
Eminent domain
Liberty interests
Positive sum projects
Redistribution last
The rule of law diminished
Retroactivity
Modern applications: financial reform and health care
Final reflections.

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