Henry N. Butler
Encyclopedia
Henry N. Butler is an American
professor of law, economics
, and public policy
. He currently serves as the executive director of the Searle Center at the George Mason University's School of Law. He formerly served as the Director of the Judicial Education Program at the American Enterprise Institute
-Brookings Institution
Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. Butler is a conservative and a supporter of free market
s with little regulation
; he has acted as an expert witness
in a legal case
s involving antitrust
, restrictive covenant
s, damages
, joint venture
s, and other issues.
Butler ran unsuccessfully as a Republican
for the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 11th congressional district
in the 1992 elections; he lost the general election
to Democrat
Leslie L. Byrne
.
Butler received his Bachelor of Arts
degree
in economics from the University of Richmond
in 1977. He then attended Virginia Tech
, where he earned a Master of Arts
in 1979 and a Ph.D.
in 1982. There he studied under Nobel Economics Laureate
James M. Buchanan
. Butler received his Juris Doctor
law degree
from the University of Miami School of Law
in 1982, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics
.
Butler spent three years at Texas A&M
as an assistant professor of management
before becoming a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School
during the 1985-86 academic year. From 1986 to 1993, Butler was a professor at George Mason University School of Law
. After 1992 Butler Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Distinguished Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Kansas School of Law
and School of Business, and for a short time served as dean of the Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics
and Chairman of the Chapman University Law and Organizational Economics Center before moving to Chapman in 2001.
Butler has been involved in the political and legal spheres. While at George Mason University, he served as director of the Law and Economics Center at the George Mason University School of Law, which operates the Economics Institutes program for federal judges
, which is controversial. In December 1995, Butler introduced the Economics Institute for State Judges at the University of Kansas' Law and Organizational Economics Center.
Butler has written extensively on law and economics
. He has written a casebook
, Economic Analysis for Lawyers (with Christopher Drahozal, Carolina Academic Press), used at the Economics Institute for State Judges. Other books by Butler include Unhealthy Alliances: Bureaucrats, Interest Groups, and Politicians in Health (1994, American Entreprise Institute) The Corporation and the Constitution (with Larry E. Ribstein; 1995, American Entreprise Institute); and Using Federalism to Improve Environmental Policy (with Jonathan R. Macey
; 1996, American Entreprise Institute).
Butler serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest
and the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Legal Foundation
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professor of law, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
. He currently serves as the executive director of the Searle Center at the George Mason University's School of Law. He formerly served as the Director of the Judicial Education Program at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
-Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
Joint Center for Regulatory Studies. Butler is a conservative and a supporter of free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
s with little regulation
Regulation
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitutes or constrains rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation on the one hand and judge-made law on the other...
; he has acted as an expert witness
Expert witness
An expert witness, professional witness or judicial expert is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have expertise and specialised knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally...
in a legal case
Legal case
A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil or criminal...
s involving antitrust
Competition law
Competition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
, restrictive covenant
Restrictive covenant
A restrictive covenant is a type of real covenant, a legal obligation imposed in a deed by the seller upon the buyer of real estate to do or not to do something. Such restrictions frequently "run with the land" and are enforceable on subsequent buyers of the property...
s, damages
Damages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
, joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
s, and other issues.
Butler ran unsuccessfully as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
for the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from Virginia's 11th congressional district
Virginia's 11th congressional district
Virginia's Eleventh Congressional District is a U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It comprises most of Fairfax County, all of the city of Fairfax, and part of eastern Prince William County...
in the 1992 elections; he lost the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
to Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Leslie L. Byrne
Leslie L. Byrne
Leslie Byrne is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia, and was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia...
.
Butler received his Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in economics from the University of Richmond
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...
in 1977. He then attended Virginia Tech
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
, where he earned a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in 1979 and a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in 1982. There he studied under Nobel Economics Laureate
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics, but officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel , is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as one of the...
James M. Buchanan
James M. Buchanan
James McGill Buchanan, Jr. is an American economist known for his work on public choice theory, for which he received the 1986 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Buchanan's work initiated research on how politicians' self-interest and non-economic forces affect government economic policy...
. Butler received his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
law degree
Law degree
A Law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Such degrees are generally preparation for legal careers; but while their curricula may be reviewed by legal authority, they do not themselves confer a license...
from the University of Miami School of Law
University of Miami School of Law
The University of Miami School of Law, founded in 1926, is the law school of the University of Miami, located in Coral Gables, Florida, in the United States. The school graduated its first class of 13 students in 1929.- Academics :...
in 1982, where he was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics
John M. Olin Foundation
John M. Olin Foundation was a grant-making foundation established in 1953 by John M. Olin, president of the Olin Industries chemical and munitions manufacturing businesses. Unlike most non-profit foundations, the John M. Olin Foundation was charged to spend all of its assets within a generation of...
.
Butler spent three years at Texas A&M
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
as an assistant professor of management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
before becoming a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
during the 1985-86 academic year. From 1986 to 1993, Butler was a professor at George Mason University School of Law
George Mason University School of Law
George Mason University School of Law is the law school of George Mason University, a state university in Virginia, United States...
. After 1992 Butler Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Distinguished Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Kansas School of Law
University of Kansas School of Law
The University of Kansas School of Law is a public law school located on the main campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The University of Kansas Law School was founded in 1893, replacing the earlier Department of Law, which had existed since 1878. The school has more than 50...
and School of Business, and for a short time served as dean of the Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics
Chapman University, Argyros School of Business and Economics
The Chapman University Argyros School of Business and Economics is a private research and academic institution at Chapman University in Southern California...
and Chairman of the Chapman University Law and Organizational Economics Center before moving to Chapman in 2001.
Butler has been involved in the political and legal spheres. While at George Mason University, he served as director of the Law and Economics Center at the George Mason University School of Law, which operates the Economics Institutes program for federal judges
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
, which is controversial. In December 1995, Butler introduced the Economics Institute for State Judges at the University of Kansas' Law and Organizational Economics Center.
Butler has written extensively on law and economics
Law and economics
The economic analysis of law is an analysis of law applying methods of economics. Economic concepts are used to explain the effects of laws, to assess which legal rules are economically efficient, and to predict which legal rules will be promulgated.-Relationship to other disciplines and...
. He has written a casebook
Casebook
A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools. Rather than simply laying out the legal doctrine in a particular area of study, a casebook contains excerpts from legal cases in which the law of that area was applied. It is then up to the student to analyze the language...
, Economic Analysis for Lawyers (with Christopher Drahozal, Carolina Academic Press), used at the Economics Institute for State Judges. Other books by Butler include Unhealthy Alliances: Bureaucrats, Interest Groups, and Politicians in Health (1994, American Entreprise Institute) The Corporation and the Constitution (with Larry E. Ribstein; 1995, American Entreprise Institute); and Using Federalism to Improve Environmental Policy (with Jonathan R. Macey
Jonathan R. Macey
Jonathan R. Macey is Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance and Securities Law at Yale Law School.-Biography:Professor Macey earned his B.A. from Harvard University in 1977, and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1982, where he was Article and Book Review editor of the Yale Law...
; 1996, American Entreprise Institute).
Butler serves on the Legal Advisory Council of the AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest
AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest
AEI Legal Center for the Public Interest was formed when the National Legal Center for the Public Interest was merged into the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute in September 2007...
and the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Legal Foundation
Atlantic Legal Foundation
Established in 1977, Atlantic Legal Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest law firm with a history of advocating for individual liberty, limited and efficient government, free enterprise, sound science in the courtroom and school choice...
.