This, then, was the ultimate reason for the breakup of the libertarian-conservative alliance accomplished with the John Randolph Club: that while the libertarians were willing to learn their cultural lesson the conservatives did not want to learn their economics.
The business community in Texas has encouraged the State of Texas to form specialized new business trial courts as well as “the first operational appellate level business court in the United States, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals.” 1 This is a good illustration that civilized people, and businesses, value working courts, dispute resolution and legal certainty. It also illustrates the importance of federalism and states attempting to have reliable legal systems in part to attract corporate business, relocations, and incorporation in the state. [continue reading…]
On Commentators and Codes in Private Law, State Law, and Libertarian Law
I’ve pointed out previously the role of commentators and codification in the private law of systems such as the Roman law, the modern European Roman-based civil law, and the Anglo-American common law, and speculated also as to the role commentators, codification, and codes would play in a completely decentralized, legislation-free libertarian private-law legal system of a free society. [continue reading…]
In the discussion about proportionality, you state (for example on page 102 regarding property crimes), that if, for example, the money stolen from someone is more valuable to him than to the criminal, then the punishment could be, in addition to returning the money (in this case $10,000) and making the criminal pay another $10,000, paying additional compensation for the difference in value. [continue reading…]
For those who lived through this period, this book is a painful but gripping read. First serialized online, it has garnered praise from the world over for its steady tone, granular detail, narrative precision, and moral passion.
The times felt like a blur because normal life was so upended in unthinkable ways. This book operates as a tool of focus as if on a camera lens, turning fuzzy images into clear pictures. Therein lies the pain. [continue reading…]
Earlier this year I went to a fantastic conference at LSU Law on the bicentennial of the 1825 Louisiana Civil Code. 1 I found almost every panel and speaker interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of them, the esteemed international law specialist Vivian Curran, in the closing panel, had some interesting remarks about translation.
Q: In the panel here, law professor Viviane Curran makes the following comments. This is from the Youtube transcript so there may be spelling errors. She refers to some someone named “Lakoff”, who is apparently a linguist or a psychologist or both, and whose argument is that thinking is translation, that thinking itself is translation. Can you think of who she means? What is name of the author and what books would have this theory? [continue reading…]
This is my appearance on Adam Haman’s podcast and Youtube channel, Haman Nature (Haman Nature substack), episode HN 149, “Free The DRUGS! Stephan KINSELLA Counters Economist Alex TABARROK On Price Controls | Hn 149” (recorded June 25, 2025). [continue reading…]
From a Twitter Space organized by @Kasimir, joined by LiquidZulu and others. I believe I was supposed to host a Zoom call at 8am this Sat. morning but I overslept (since I am dealing with a family issue) so joined this conversation late, about 90 minutes in, and chimed in sporadically.
I just came across the obituary (2) for John Murray Clearwater (Feb. 8, 1966 to March 2, 2022). Text below. I was unaware he had passed.
I knew John when he and I were students at King’s College London 1991–92; we both lived in King’s College Hall in Camberwell. At the time, he went by the name John Strangelove and was a bit mysterious. As I recall, he was antiwar and something of a leftist, and so we would argue about politics a bit. I remember my friend Paul Comeaux and I teasing him at one point that Canada’s military had more generals than tanks. At one point, for some reason, he shaved off one side of his mustache and the other side of his beard. He only told me later, after my repeated inquiries, that his real name was Clearwater, not Strangelove. [continue reading…]
“Although it is usual to speak of money as a measure of value and prices, the notion is entirely fallacious. So long as the subjective theory of value is accepted, this question of measurement cannot arise.” Ludwig von Mises, “On the Measurement of Value,” in The Theory of Money and Credit (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953), I.2.1 [continue reading…]
I just came across the 
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