• About
  • Contact
  • Staff
  • Home
  • Essays
  • Forum
  • Podcasts
  • Book Reviews
  • Liberty Classics

June 1, 2012|Federalism, Harold Berman, Law and Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on the Western Legal Tradition, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, Polycentrism

Harold Berman’s Revolution: Polycentric Liberty, Part III

by John O. McGinnis|

My first two posts considered Harold Berman’s overall project and explained the basic ideas in Law and Revolution, Volumes I and II. In this post, I would like to consider Berman’s first book and its reconsideration of the advantages of polycentric forms of ordering for liberty.  Polycentric forms of political ordering can occur when different sovereigns dispense law to the same subjects.  Multiple independent forms of legal order can advance liberty for two reasons.

Read More

May 31, 2012|Harold Berman, Law and Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on the Western Legal Tradition, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition

The Revolution Harold Berman Made, Part II

by John O. McGinnis|

Law and Revolution

In the first post I introduced Berman’s overall project. Now I would like to explore Berman’s volumes in Law and Revolution which critique dominant views of the relation between law and society.  Berman saw law as a reflection of society’s most profound beliefs rather than simply a mirror of its economic or technological structure. Because the most fundamental beliefs in the West were Christian, law thus necessarily depended on developments in Christianity.  As law is refracted through such beliefs, it then shapes the structures that define the exercise of political power. Thus, Berman turns Marxist analysis on its head.  It is not the social and economic structure that determines beliefs through power relations.    Fundamental beliefs shape the social and economic structure through law.  

Read More

May 30, 2012|Harold Berman, Henry II, Law and Revolution II: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on the Western Legal Tradition, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, Papal Investiture Controversy, Thomas A Becket

Harold Berman’s Revolution in Western Legal Thought, Part I

by John O. McGinnis|

In a series of posts, I will discuss the great enterprise of the late professor Harold Berman.  That enterprise was nothing less than to relate fundamental developments in Christianity and other core beliefs to fundamental developments in law. In this post I will introduce Berman and his project.   In the second, I will summarize some of the most important themes of his books. In the third and fourth, I will offer my own views on some of the implications of his narrative for liberty.

Read More

Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

Read More

The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

Read More

Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

Read More

James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

Read More

Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

Read More

Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

Read More

Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

Read More

America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

Read More

About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Archive

© 2021 Liberty Fund, Inc.

This site uses local and third-party cookies to analyze traffic. If you want to know more, click here.
By closing this banner or clicking any link in this page, you agree with this practice.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Necessary Always Enabled

Subscribe
Get Law and Liberty's latest content delivered to you daily
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Close