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The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law
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The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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Clear Writing and Clear Thinking
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Randy Barnett makes a compelling and highly readable case for a "polycentric legal order" in his book The Structure of Liberty. The novel starting point of this work is the application of market strategies to a legal system. In this regard, The Structure of Liberty is the most interesting and certainly one of the most clearly written and cogently argued, works on legal philosophy in a very long time. Taking his cue from modern rights theorists, public choice theory, and an understanding of the decentralized nature of knowledge in society, Barnett offers an alternative way to guarantee justice in a free society. At the outset it is worth mentioning, however, that Barnett is not engaged in the radical utopian theorizing which is all too common in the libertarian literature. Barnett has a background that definitely has the effect of immunizing him against such exercises, acting as an assistant district attorney in Chicago and acting as a defense attorney for several big name clients in federal appeals courts. Barnett is familiar with how the legal system works at its basic levels, and this is possibly what informs him in the direction he takes.
The first point that Barnett makes in the introduction that colors the entire work is that every right is also a restriction or, stated differently, every right implies the warrant to do violence to those that violate that right. Because of this, a proper order of rights is necessary to define a system that separates legitimate claims of rights from illegitimate ones, so that the only violence that is done is just and the only rights that are protected are legitimate ones. Any system that presumes to do this, however, must deal with three fundamental problems: knowledge, interest, and power. His book is divided to deal with each of these issues individually and to see what a liberal justice system that could deal with these problems would look like. The main critique of our current legal system is that it does not adequately deal with these issues and therefore fails to uphold a "liberal conception of justice" under the rule of law.
The central selling point of this book, however, is that although it deals with issues of fundamental importance and of philosophical as well as practical interest, it is written in such a manner so that an interested layman with little or no background in political philosophy or law could understand it. Further, it is not only accessible but also captivating and highly entertaining. Clear writing is, no doubt, the product of clear thinking, but even in well thought out works there is usually something wanting in organization and style. I can honestly say, however, that The Structure of Liberty is one of the most clearly structured (no pun intended) and stylistically inviting books ever written on the topic of legal philosophy. If you have any interest in legal theory, political philosophy, or are just drawn to interesting and new ideas you should buy this book. You will be haunted by the ideas within, even if you disagree with them, again and again. |
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