First Published in 2000. This is a collection of essays that look at the Constitutional protection of private property and freedom of contract, and forms part of the Liberty, Property and Law series where the materials in this collection are drawn from many disciplines, including economics, law, philosophy and political science.
The wide collection of disciplines and periods represented in this five-volume set make it an ideal companion for courses in intellectual and legal history, political history, economic history, and common and constitutional law. The essays involved offer insightful understanding into the evolution of liberty and property in ways that are accessible to students without a strong technical background in economics, philosophy, or law. They contain probing evaluations of the central problems of legal and political thought that should prove of value to advanced students and specialists in these fields. Volumes also available individually. Volume 1. Classical Foundations of Liberty and Property (0-8153-3555-5) Volume 2. Modern Understanding of Liberty and Property (0-8153-3556-3) Volume 3. Private and Common Property (0-8153-3557-1) Volume 4. Contract-Freedom and Restraint (0-8153-3558-X) Volume 5. Constitutional Protection of Private Property and Freedom of Contract (0-8153-3559-8)
As far back as the Magna Carta in 1215, the right of private property was seen as a bulwark of the individual against the arbitrary power of the state. Indeed, common-law tradition holds that "property is the guardian of every other right." And yet, for most of the last seventy years, property rights had few staunch supporters in America. This latest addition to Oxford's Inalienable Rights series provides a succinct, pointed look at property rights in America--how they came to be, how they have evolved, and why they should once again be a mainstay of the law. Richard A. Epstein, the nation's preeminent authority on the subject, examines all aspects of private property--from real estate to air rights to intellectual property. He takes the reader from the strongly protective property rights advocated by the framers of the Constitution through to the weak property rights supported by Progressive and liberal politicians of the twentieth century and finally to our own time, which has seen a renewed appreciation of property rights in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's landmark Kelo v. New London decision in 2005. The author's own powerful defense of property rights threads through the narrative. Using both political theory and economic analysis, Epstein argues that above all that private property is a sound social institution, and not just an excuse for selfishness and greed. Only a system of private property lets people form and raise families, organize religious and other charitable organizations, and earn a living through honest labor. Supreme Neglect offers a compact, incisive look at this hotly contested constitutional right, championing property rights as an essential social institution.
In Defense of Property focuses on the importance of private property and its protection throughout history. Emphasizing the connection between property and propriety, Gottfried Dietze shows how the universal appreciation of property functions as an ethical institution, securing happiness under law and order.
This book details the relationship between private property and government. As private property is important to both individual welfare and the public interest, the book provides an intellectual framework for the analysis and resolution of contemporary property rights disputes.
Over the past few years, a series of Supreme Court decisions has strengthened the legal protection of private property in the United States by limiting the power of state and local governments to impose zoning ordinances and land-use regulations on property owners. Bernard H. Siegan explores this new direction of the Supreme Court in Property and Freedom: The Constitution, the Courts, and Land-Use Regulation, arguing that this recent jurisprudence implements the objectives of the framers of the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment. Discussing several key land-use cases, Siegan describes the emergence of a new standard of review for land-use regulations—a standard under which a regulation will be held to be constitutional only when it substantially advances state interests and does not deny an owner economically viable use of his land. This new standard is less demanding than the strict scrutiny test applied to laws limiting freedom of speech or of the press, but considerably more demanding than the standard previously applied in these cases. In elevating the protection of property rights, Siegan contends, the Supreme Court has implemented a fundamental rule of fairness: governments should not force individual property owners to bear the costs of regulations which are supposed to benefit the public. Siegan believes that the new standard of review for land-use regulations accords with the widely held view that the protection of property rights is essential to the viability of the state and the well-being of the people. He cites studies showing that economic regulations seriously limit a nation's productivity and standard of living, and that zoning and no-growth measures reduce housing opportunities and raise the price of housing. Understandably, Siegan notes, people with low and moderate incomes tend to vote against zoning regulations in local elections.
The Guardian of Every Other Right provides a comprehensive survey of the pivotal relationship between property rights and the Constitution, examining the role of property ownership from the colonial era to current controversies over land use. The text emphasizes the interplay of law, ideology, politics, and economic change in shaping constitutional thought, and provides a historical perspective on the contemporary debate about property rights. Ely examines such issues as the link between private property and political liberty, the extent to which the government may interfere with private contracts, and the manner in which discourse about private property changed as American society became industrialized.Now in its second edition, The Guardian of Every Other Right has been revised to take into account the heightened interest in the constitutional rights of property owners since the first edition appeared in 1991. It focuses on the major legal developments in the field of property rights and offers a full treatment of important judicial decisions and notable legislation during the 1990s. Particular attention is paid to the Supreme Court decisions which have enlarged the protection afforded property owners under the fifth amendment. It also examines the reach of federal authority under the commerce clause and the important innovations at the state level. Covering the entire history of property rights, the revised edition of The Guardian of Every Other Right fills an important gap in the literature of constitutional history and is an ideal text for legal and constitutional history courses.
The relationship of law to economic freedom has been a vital element in the history of all modern democratic societies. "Freedom of contract" is both a technical term in law, referring to private agreements and promises, and a metaphor often deployed to describe economic liberty. This volume of new essays by eminent legal historians offers fresh perspectives on freedom of contract in both senses of the term, and considers how economic freedom relates to such classic political freedoms as free speech and other Anglo-American constitutional norms. The principal focus of the essays is on broad issues of policy and law, rather than on narrow considerations of legal doctrine. All the contributors reject stereotypes that pervade the existing literature about the allegedly unalloyed individualism of the common law, and show how active state interventions of various kinds have shaped contract law in relation to social change throughout our legal history. Equally, however, they reject shibboleths regarding "bringing the state back in," and take a hard look at the claims of statist ideology regarding the norms and rules that have established the legal boundaries of liberty in the modern industrial and post-industrial eras. The topics covered are Blackstone's claim that property was the "despotic dominion of the private owner" (A. W. B. Simpson), labor and contract (John V. Orth), the influence of philosophical trends on legal innovations (James Gordley), contract and individualism (David Lieberman), the tradition of public rights (Harry N. Scheiber), the formal concept of "liberty of contract" in American law (Charles McCurdy), the interwoven history of labor law and contract law (Arthur McEvoy), public policy in relation to natural resources (Donald Pisani), and globalization of freedom of contract (Martin Shapiro).
