The Structure of Liberty: Justice & The Rule of Law, Second Edition.

• Author: Leonard, Randy

The Structure of Liberty: Justice & the Rule of Law, Second Edition

By Randy E. Barnett

Have you ever walked along a towering bridge and thought to yourself, "If only this bridge didn't have these support beams and reinforced concrete that keep me from plummeting to my death, I would be so much freer to live as I choose?"

It is the absurdity of this question that Georgetown professor Randy Barnett hopes readers recognize in The Structure of Liberty. Libertarian legal theory, Professor Barnett argues in this update to his 1998 edition, is not defined by the disorder its critics practically jump at the chance to cite; rather, it is defined, paradoxically, by its structure, like that of a bridge. And like any good bridge, while it may indeed constrain our movement, it "enables people to accomplish their ends." Natural law and social order, he argues, dictated these ends--the pursuit of happiness and prosperity-long before they were ever embedded into our American legal heritage.

But embedded they were, and if we hope to achieve them, we must adhere to a structure pillared by five rights: property ownership, first possession, contract, self-defense, and retribution. In his liberty structure, unlike in those of his opponents (social justice advocates and legal moralists), these rights are non-negotiable, and disputes over them must be resolved by objective precepts and decentralized authorities.

The...