Liberties and Markets argues both that libertarianism based on consequentialist moral reasoning is internally inconsistent and that alternative “deontological libertarianisms” face different problems than those emphasized by Jonathan Wolff. Libertarians, I claim, can respond convincingly to most of the arguments advanced against them by Wolff. But these responses are not adequate to defend the libertarian position; for any arguments that could demonstrate the existence of moral rights that would be sufficient to underpin libertarian economic ideals would also imply the existence of rights inconsistent with those ideals.
Essay
Libertarianism, Utility and Economic Competition
Libertarianism is defined both by its foundations and by the institutions to which it typically is said to give rise. In this paper it is argued that while a system of economic competition can be defended on consequentialist grounds, such arguments are not available to deontological libertarians. Thus it is concluded that deontological libertarians cannot provide a foundation for the type of economic system they favour.
The Common Law Prohibition on Party Testimony and the Development of Tort Liability
For two and a half centuries of accident law’s history, between about 1600 and 1850, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant in a tort suit could testify in that suit. In fact, during this period the parties could not testify in any civil suit, and the defendant could not testify in a criminal case. These prohibitions were features of a broader common law rule providing that any potential witness who had an “interest” in the outcome of a case was not competent to testify in it. It was not until statutes abolishing this evidentiary prohibition were enacted in England in the 1840s, and in the United States between the late 1840s and the 1890s, that the parties were permitted to testify in tort (and other) suits. This Essay addresses the influence of the prohibition against party testimony on the development of tort liability prior to the middle of the 19th century.