''The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law'' is a book by legal theorist

Randy Barnett Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...

which offers a

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

theory of law and politics. Barnett calls his theory ''the liberal conception of justice'', emphasizing the relationship between legal libertarianism and

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...

. Barnett argues that private adjudication and enforcement of law, with market forces eliminating inefficiencies and inequities, is the only legal system that can provide adequate solutions to the problems of interest, power, and knowledge. Barnett uses the term " polycentric constitutional order" for

anarcho-capitalism Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or an-cap) is a political philosophy and economic theory that advocates for the abolition of centralized states in favor of stateless societies, where systems of private property are enforced by pri ...

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann,
Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography
' in his argument in favor of this philosophy.

Problems in human interaction

Barnett's argument for the liberal conception focuses on three problems of human interaction: * the problem of knowledgeeach individual has unique knowledge about his or her own interests and situation and about how resources can best be used. * the problem of interesteach individual has self-interests which can be coordinated through the creation of decentralized property rights. * the problem of powergiven that those with the power to impose punishments will be partial to their own interests, the power to punish or to use force to compel restitution is likely to be abused. Barnett argues that each of these problems must be solved in order for individuals to be able to pursue their happiness under conditions of social peace.

Liberal conception of justice

Barnett argues that these the problems of knowledge, interest, and power can best be solved by a form of social organization that respects the liberal conception of justice. The liberal conception has five elements: # Property rights, defined as rights to acquire, possess, use, and dispose of scarce physical resources. # The right to acquire property through first possession. # The right of freedom of contract, which specifies that a rightholder's consent is both necessary (freedom from contract) and sufficient (freedom to contract) to transfer alienable property rights. # The right of restitution, which requires that one who violates the rights of others must compensate the victim. # The right of self-defense. Barnett argues that the liberal conception of justice can best be realized by a polycentric constitutional order, which substitutes private police and dispute resolution mechanisms instead of the state ones.

Editions

* ''The Structure of Liberty''. (2014 edition),

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, ,

References

External links

Official website of The Structure of Liberty

The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law
review in

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Libertarianism in the United States Libertarian theory Anarcho-capitalist books Law books 1998 non-fiction books Oxford University Press books {{US-law-book-stub