Libertarian Theories Of Law

The defining characteristics of libertarian legal theory are its insistence that the amount of governmental intervention should be kept to a minimum and the primary functions of law should be enforcement of contracts and social order, though social order is often seen as a desirable side effect of a free market rather than a philosophical necessity.

Historically, the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek is the most important libertarian legal theorist.^{[citation needed]} Another important predecessor was Lysander Spooner, a 19th-century American individualist anarchist and lawyer. John Locke was also an influence on libertarian legal theory (see Two Treatises of Government).

Ideas range from anarcho-capitalism to a minimal state providing physical protection and enforcement of contracts. Some advocate regulation, including the existence of a police force, military, public land and public infrastructure. Geolibertarians oppose absolute ownership of land on Georgist grounds.

Authors discussing libertarian legal theory include:

• Randy Barnett (The Structure of Liberty)
• Frédéric Bastiat (The Law)
• Bruce L. Benson (The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State)
• Frank van Dun (The Fundamental Principle of Law)
• Richard Epstein (Skepticism and Freedom)
• David Friedman (The Machinery of Freedom)
• Friedrich Hayek (Law, Legislation and Liberty)
• Gene Healy
• Hans Hermann Hoppe (The Economics and Ethics of Private Property)
• Stephan Kinsella (Law in a Libertarian World: Legal Foundations of a Free Society)
• Bruno Leoni (Freedom and the Law)
• Robert P. Murphy (Chaos Theory)
• Andrew Napolitano
• Robert Nozick (Anarchy, State, and Utopia)
• Roger Pilon
• Ayn Rand (Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal)
• Murray Rothbard (The Ethics of Liberty)
• Bernard Siegan (Economic Liberties and the Constitution)
• Lysander Spooner (The Unconstitutionality of Slavery)
• Linda and Morris Tannehill (The Market for Liberty)

• Constitutional economics
• Equality before the law
• Hans-Hermann Hoppe § Argumentation ethics
• Judicial activism
• Law and economics
• Outline of libertarianism
• Philosophy of law
• Polycentric law
• Rule according to higher law

• Randy Barnett (1998). The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-829324-0.
• Richard Epstein (2003). Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-21304-8.
• Friedrich Hayek (1981). Law, Legislation and Liberty: The Political Order of a Free People. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-415-09868-8, ISBN 0-226-32090-1.

• "The Structure of Liberty"
• "Legal Theory Lexicon: Libertarian Theories of Law"