Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

An Appeal From A Law Student In Poland

Rate this topic


Heroic Man

Recommended Posts

From Robert Tracinski's TIA Daily (21-Dec-2005):

An Appeal from a Law Student in Poland

[Editor's Note: I just received this e-mail from a law student in Poland looking for information on Objectivism's philosophy of law. I thought the best way to answer this question would be to send this out to TIA Daily's readers, who I know include many lawyers and experts on law. If you have a response, just reply ([email protected]) to this e-mail, and I'll forward it on to Mr. Stremecki. Also, feel free to forward today's TIA Daily to anyone who you think would have good information to offer. With the authors' permission, I will also publish some of the best responses in TIA Daily; I am also offering Mr. Stremecki a free student subscription to TIA Daily. Post-communist Poland is a country trying to move toward a free-market system, and I think we have a terrific opportunity to spread Objectivist ideas there. This is a good opportunity to help make that happen.--RWT]

Hi! My name is Dawid. I'm from Poland. My case is peculiar, but I don't know anybody who can help me. I have just got a master's degree from a law school in Poland, and right now I am preparing to get a doctor's degree in law as well, but to get this I need to write a thesis. I have chosen to do research about Objectivism and its point of view on law, but it's hard to find any resources about it, because Ayn Rand was not a lawyer and she did not write about law as much as I need. She almost focused only on antitrust law. I've read almost every book by Ayn Rand, and few of other [Objectivist] authors. But generally it's hard to find specific material for lawyers.

My question is: if you could help me to point out, where can I find specific information about:

1. Criminal law - capital punishment, hate crimes

2. Labour law

3. Civil law - contracts

4. Constitutional law

5. Property law - zoning, eminent domain, etc.

6. Banking and credit law - central bank

7. Business law - concessions, permissions, licenses

8. Trade law

9. Tax law

10. Intellectual property

11. International law

12. Theory and philosophy of objective law and objective state.

Yours sincerely,

-- Dawid Stremecki

Edited by Heroic Man
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5. Property law - zoning, eminent domain, etc.

. . .

10. Intellectual property

Adam Mossoff (bio from ARI) has what I remember to be a very good article in the Arizona Law Review discussing an integrated theory of property. A list of that and some of his other publications may be found here.

[Edit: However, despite his obvious respect in the Objectivist community, I do not know that Professor Mossoff's writings constitute the Objectivist position on such matters. In fact, based on what I understand the term "Objectivism" to mean, I don't know that anyone's writings constitute Objectivism other than those of Ayn Rand and those of which she approved. If that's true, you won't be able to find the Objectivist position on any uber-specific legal theory. I would guess, however, that Professor Mossoff is going to be about as close as you can get.]

Edited by Groovenstein
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For constitutional law, I'd recommend reading one's own Constitution. For example, while the US claims "pursuit of happiness" as an objective, we here in Canada talk about "good government" instead.

I am also interested in taking a more Objectivist view about the law, but have realized that Rand's philosophies do not lend themselves to any one practical field of business-work (such as stock trading, criminal law, or engineering). I'm not sure one can find Objectivist books about such topics, but instead find rules of how those who practise them should live by.

Sorry if this is not helpful, but I've also searched in vain for many law-based Objectivist aids.

Issack

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...