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La libertad y la ley
La aportación esencial de Leoni en este libro radica en su concepción del Derecho como producto eminentemente evolutivo y consuetudinario, en la línea iniciada por Menger de la formación y evolución de las instituciones sociales. Basándose en un amplio y profundo conocimiento de los sistemas jurídicos griego, romano, inglés, continental y americano, el autor demuestra que la actual tendencia a identificar la ley exclusivamente con el derecho positivo y la legislación escrita, olvidando el derecho común, la costumbre, las normas tácitas, el arbitraje privado y los espontáneos arreglos entre los individuos, están conduciendo gradualmente al menoscabo y la destrucción de la libertad individual.
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 28, 2012
The best critic to Kelsen's model of law.
July 19, 2019
An Italian legal scholar, Leoni is virtually unknown in America. A nice alternative to the positivists and deconstructionists. Good reading for students of the common law, Roman law, civil law. My favorite quote (I paraphrase, for I do not want to look it up):
"Some scholars insist that freedom is just a concept, one among many. But many people have fought and died for freedom. The triangle, too, is a concept... but I doubt that anyone would fight and die for triangles. Perhaps a few mathematicians might."
"Some scholars insist that freedom is just a concept, one among many. But many people have fought and died for freedom. The triangle, too, is a concept... but I doubt that anyone would fight and die for triangles. Perhaps a few mathematicians might."
January 2, 2014
Indispensable para abogados formados en la tradición de Derecho Civil. Una perspectiva totalmente fresca sobre la creación de las normas.
December 30, 2022
Bruno Leoni's "Freedom and the Law" originated as as series of lectures delivered to graduate students at Claremont Men's College. In the words of Friederick Hayek, Leoni's work promised to span "the gulf which has come to separate the study of law from that of the theoretical social sciences..." While Leoni's premature death precluded the completion of such an endeavor, these lectures provided a wealth of seminal insights; insights that would later attract the attention of students of law and economics.
Leoni argues that semantic gymnastics notwithstanding, the overall trend in today's world is against individual freedom. The author convincingly demonstrates that efforts to rationalize law through legislation has, in fact, made life more highly constrained, the law more uncertain, and the divide between rulers and the ruled more pronounced. Leoni suggests several palliatives. First, he suggests an embrace of common law procedures- the legal manifestation of spontaneous order- would do better to safeguard individual freedom. Second, the author argues that the Confucian precept "do not do unto others what you would not wish others to do unto you" should inform the work of all legislators. And, third, and perhaps most ambitiously, Leoni propose a variety of avenues to make representation more representative.
A cursory review cannot do justice to the erudition and fecundity exhibited in these lectures. The author's treatment of the methodological issues associated with efforts to create a positive science of law and economics is particularly fruitful. That said, this is a challenging book, but one that is extremely worthwhile.
Leoni argues that semantic gymnastics notwithstanding, the overall trend in today's world is against individual freedom. The author convincingly demonstrates that efforts to rationalize law through legislation has, in fact, made life more highly constrained, the law more uncertain, and the divide between rulers and the ruled more pronounced. Leoni suggests several palliatives. First, he suggests an embrace of common law procedures- the legal manifestation of spontaneous order- would do better to safeguard individual freedom. Second, the author argues that the Confucian precept "do not do unto others what you would not wish others to do unto you" should inform the work of all legislators. And, third, and perhaps most ambitiously, Leoni propose a variety of avenues to make representation more representative.
A cursory review cannot do justice to the erudition and fecundity exhibited in these lectures. The author's treatment of the methodological issues associated with efforts to create a positive science of law and economics is particularly fruitful. That said, this is a challenging book, but one that is extremely worthwhile.
August 14, 2019
Essa obra liberal, do jurista italiano, Bruno Leoni, é uma apresentação dos argumentos liberais na filosofia político-jurídica. O autor apresenta a dificuldade de definir liberdade, como também sua difícil relação com a coerção. Leoni, ao considerar a teoria do Estado de Direito, dialoga com a leitura de Hayek e Dicey, apontando algumas diferenças. Disso o autor considera o problema da efetividade da lei e critica o aumento da produção normativa que propicia mais discricionariedade para os administradores públicos. Apesar de entender a necessidade da produção de leis em algumas matérias, o autor é crítico da postura dos parlamentos que, por meio da teoria da representação política, restringe a liberdade individual ao produzir cada vez mais leis específicas. O liberal italiano defende a visão de ordem espontânea como determinante na produção normativa, diferente da ideia de leis a priori que construam um ideal social. Esse livro não acrescenta em quase nada para os conhecedores do pensamento de Hayek que, por sinal, é mais refinado.
October 31, 2020
Knihu som kupoval kvoli 'prilepku', a teda eseji Zakon od Frederica Bastiata, ktora sa samostatne nedala zohnat. Ale ked uz som ju mal tak som ju prelistoval. Urcite stoji za to esej Marxov Kapital po 100 rokoch. Velmi trefna kritika. Zvysne temy su sice ok, ale vzhladom na odstup casu su na temy vztahu prava a slobody, ekonomie a politiky aj aktualnejsie a rozpracovanejsie publikacie.
March 26, 2021
Una obra maestra, Bruno Leoni con "La libertad y la Ley" deja a Hans Kelsen como adalid del totalitarismo de turno y al sagrado dogma de la "Teoría Pura del Derecho" como una construcción funcional y servil a cierto tipo de intereses políticos.
Texto indispensable, atemporal. Lectura más que recomendable
Texto indispensable, atemporal. Lectura más que recomendable
February 13, 2021
An absolute must.
March 18, 2008
Yet another book about ensuring individual liberty. This book's argument seems to centre on several facts:
(1) there is simply too much legislation and this constrains individual action
(2) legislation can change very quickly, unpredictably, without warning which makes it difficult for individuals to know what the impact of their behaviour will be in the near future
(3) laws shouldn't be made by politicians since politicians (in a top down manner). individual men can't have all the info needed to make laws, instead laws made by politicians should be limited, should be based on popularly accepted behaviour in the community, and be made according to the golden rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
(4) as many legal questions as necessary should be decided by judges when individuals bring the cases to court.
the book didn't given an adequate explanation of how one could ensure that laws aren't oppressive of minority interests (think issues of religious dress in France or Turkey). it also neglected to account for the cost of individuals being able to take cases to court... so only those with money are protected.
this book also relied very heavily on philosophy and arguments of past centuries... as in, going back to the Roman empire and ancient Greece, Great Britain in the 18th and 19th Century, etc. He doesn't adequately account for WHY the philosophy from the 18th or 19th Century was objectively "good" or effective - just because something happened in the past doesn't mean it's GOOD.
overall, this book, while making objectively interesting arguments (even though i don't agree with them) wasn't convincing - it didn't offer adequate proof, it didn't take adequate account of the problems one could find with his theories and try to disprove them, and it simply doesn't seem workable in pluralistic societys of the last half century.
(1) there is simply too much legislation and this constrains individual action
(2) legislation can change very quickly, unpredictably, without warning which makes it difficult for individuals to know what the impact of their behaviour will be in the near future
(3) laws shouldn't be made by politicians since politicians (in a top down manner). individual men can't have all the info needed to make laws, instead laws made by politicians should be limited, should be based on popularly accepted behaviour in the community, and be made according to the golden rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
(4) as many legal questions as necessary should be decided by judges when individuals bring the cases to court.
the book didn't given an adequate explanation of how one could ensure that laws aren't oppressive of minority interests (think issues of religious dress in France or Turkey). it also neglected to account for the cost of individuals being able to take cases to court... so only those with money are protected.
this book also relied very heavily on philosophy and arguments of past centuries... as in, going back to the Roman empire and ancient Greece, Great Britain in the 18th and 19th Century, etc. He doesn't adequately account for WHY the philosophy from the 18th or 19th Century was objectively "good" or effective - just because something happened in the past doesn't mean it's GOOD.
overall, this book, while making objectively interesting arguments (even though i don't agree with them) wasn't convincing - it didn't offer adequate proof, it didn't take adequate account of the problems one could find with his theories and try to disprove them, and it simply doesn't seem workable in pluralistic societys of the last half century.
April 24, 2011
La libertà individuale, somma aspirazione della civiltà occidentale, rischia concretamente di soccombere di fronte all'eccesso di legislazione. L'autore chiarisce, con ampi riferimenti storici e con prosa lineare, che la libertà degli individui può trovare tutela soltanto nel diritto enunciato dalle corti, nel contraddittorio delle parti, e non nella legislazione imposta da maggioranze volubili e -in principio- prive di alcuna stabilità. Scritto nel 1961 per il pubblico anglosassone, "La libertà e la legge" è stato tradotto in italiano soltanto in anni recenti, nel rispetto del consueto copione che questo paese riserva alle proprie menti migliori.
June 7, 2008
Bruno Leoni, an Italian judge and legal academic, was one perceptive dude. This book is a super defense of common law, as opposed to statutory law. He doesn't just make the case, he hits it out of the park. (granted, I'm a sympathetic- but largely uninformed- audience).
Read
September 23, 2010Freedom and the law by Bruno Leoni (1972)
June 6, 2013
One of the best books I've ever read.
April 18, 2014
"... democracy is in conflict with individual freedom" p.131
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews