Title: Principles for a free society :
Authors: Epstein, Richard Allen,
Date: 1998
Publisher: Perseus Books,
Physical description: xii, 360 p. ; 24 cm.
Language: English
LC classification: J
Abstract: In Principles for a Free Society, distinguished legal scholar Richard Epstein staunchly defends the principles of limited government, showing how it can and will work to the advantage of almost all of our society. But the balance between a powerful economic engine and individual liberty requires careful dilution of pure laissez-faire policies. A seminal theoretician, Epstein carefully analyzes the interaction of law and social norms and highlights the handful of restraints that provide a moral foundation to a resilient, adaptive capitalist system. His central mission is "to explain how a concern with the common good does not eviscerate the traditional protections otherwise provided to individual liberty and private property."
Contents: Introduction: Reinvigorating laissez-faire -- 1. Natural law : the utilitarian connection -- 2. Social norms versus legal commands -- 3. Harm : the gateway to liability -- 4. The benefit principle -- 5. Altruism : its uses and limits -- 6. Forfeiture : the flip side of rights -- 7. Boundaries : firm and fuzzy -- 8. From rights to remedies -- 9. Common property -- 10. Common carriers -- Epilogue: A return to fundamentals.
Subject headings (LCSH): Carriers--United States.; Free enterprise--Moral and ethical aspects; Law--United States--Philosophy; Liberty; Liberty--Moral and ethical aspects.; Right of property--United States.; State, The; United States--Economic policy--Moral and ethical aspects.; United States--Social policy.