Principles For A Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty With The Common Good

by Richard A. Epstein

As government budgets come under political fire and free-market ideals spread, the legal and social principles of libertarian thought continue to grow in popularity and relevance. It is particularly timely, then, that Richard Epstein, one of our country's most distinguished legal scholars, here sets out an authoritative set of principles that explains both the uses and the limits of government power. Blending his deep knowledge of classical political theory and legal history with modern economic thought, he considers a wealth of timely the use of norms and customs in setting legal rules; the appropriate spheres for both private and common property for such diverse resources as water and telecommunications; the dark side of altruism in driving collective behavior; and the relative merits of public and private assistance to the poor. Drawing on the work of multiple disciplines, Principles for a Free Society offers a thoroughly realized blueprint to guide us through political conflict in the troubled times ahead.

Genres: Politics, Law, Philosophy, Economics, Nonfiction

364 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1998

About the author

Richard A. Epstein is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law and Senior Lecturer at The University of Chicago Law School.

Epstein started his legal career at the University of Southern California, where he taught from 1968 to 1972. He served as Interim Dean from February to June, 2001.

He received an LLD, hc, from the University of Ghent, 2003. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1985 and a Senior Fellow of the Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago Medical School, also since 1983. He served as editor of the Journal of Legal Studies from 1981 to 1991, and of the Journal of Law and Economics from 1991 to 2001.

His books include The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act (Hoover 2009); Supreme Neglect Antitrust Decrees in Theory and Practice: Why Less Is More (AEI 2007); Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation (Yale University Press 2006); How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution (Cato 2006). Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 8th ed. 2004); Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (University of Chicago 2003): Cases and Materials on Torts (Aspen Law & Business; 7th ed. 2000); Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999); Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus Books 1998): Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Rights to Health Care (Addison-Wesley 1997); Simple Rules for a Complex World (Harvard 1995); Bargaining with the State (Princeton, 1993); Forbidden Grounds: The Case against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard 1992); Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard 1985); and Modern Products Liability Law (Greenwood Press 1980). He has written numerous articles on a wide range of legal and interdisciplinary subjects.

He has taught courses in civil procedure, communications, constitutional law, contracts, corporations, criminal law, health law and policy, legal history, labor law, property, real estate development and finance, jurisprudence, labor law; land use planning, patents, individual, estate and corporate taxation, Roman Law; torts, and workers' compensation.