Design for Liberty : Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law / Richard A. Epstein.
2011
K487.L5 E65 2011
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Title
Design for Liberty : Private Property, Public Administration, and the Rule of Law / Richard A. Epstein.
Author
ISBN
9780674063051
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2011]
Copyright
©2011
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (248 p.)
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674063051 doi
Call Number
K487.L5 E65 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification
340/.11
Summary
Following a vast expansion in the twentieth century, government is beginning to creak at the joints under its enormous weight. The signs are clear: a bloated civil service, low approval ratings for Congress and the President, increasing federal-state conflict, rampant distrust of politicians and government officials, record state deficits, and major unrest among public employees.In this compact, clearly written book, the noted legal scholar Richard Epstein 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. Epstein 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.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 The Traditional Conception of the Rule of Law
2 Reasonableness Standards and the Rule of Law
3 Where Natural Law and Utilitarianism Converge
4 Where Natural Law and Utilitarianism Diverge
5 Property Rights in the Grand Social Scheme
6 The Bundle of Rights
7 Eminent Domain
8 Liberty Interests
9 Positive-Sum Projects
10 Redistribution Last
11 The Rule of Law Diminished
12 Retroactivity
13 Modern Applications: Financial Reform and Health Care
14 Final Reflections
Notes
Index of Cases
General Index
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1 The Traditional Conception of the Rule of Law
2 Reasonableness Standards and the Rule of Law
3 Where Natural Law and Utilitarianism Converge
4 Where Natural Law and Utilitarianism Diverge
5 Property Rights in the Grand Social Scheme
6 The Bundle of Rights
7 Eminent Domain
8 Liberty Interests
9 Positive-Sum Projects
10 Redistribution Last
11 The Rule of Law Diminished
12 Retroactivity
13 Modern Applications: Financial Reform and Health Care
14 Final Reflections
Notes
Index of Cases
General Index