Law, Legislation and Liberty is the 1973 magnum opus in three volumes by Nobel laureate economist and political philosopher Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich August Hayek CH , born in Austria-Hungary as Friedrich August von Hayek, was an economist and philosopher best known for his defense of classical liberalism and free-market capitalism against socialist and collectivist thought...

. In it, Hayek further develops the philosophical principles he discussed earlier in The Road to Serfdom

The Road to Serfdom

The Road to Serfdom is a book written by the Austrian-born economist and philosopher Friedrich von Hayek between 1940–1943, in which he "warned of the danger of tyranny that inevitably results from government control of economic decision-making through central planning," and in which he argues...

, The Constitution of Liberty

The Constitution of Liberty

The Constitution of Liberty is a book by Austrian economist and Nobel Prize recipient Friedrich A. Hayek. The book was first published in 1960 by the University of Chicago Press and it is an interpretation of civilization as being made possible by the fundamental principles of liberty, which the...

, and other writings. Law, Legislation and Liberty is more abstract than Hayek's earlier work, and it focuses on the conflicting views of society as either a design, a made order ("taxis"), on the one hand, or an emergent system, a grown order ("cosmos"), on the other. These ideas are then connected to two different forms of law: law proper, or "nomos" coinciding more or less with the traditional concept of natural law

Natural law

Natural law, or the law of nature , is any system of law which is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law Natural...

, which is an emergent property of social interaction, and legislation, or "thesis", which is properly confined to the administration of non-coercive government services, but is easily confused with the occasional acts of legislature that do actually straighten out flaws in the nomos.

Table of Contents

• Volume 1- Rules and Order, University of Chicago Press, 1973 ISBN 0226320863

1. Reason and Evolution
2. Cosmos and Taxis
3. Principles and Expediency
4. The Changing Concept of Law
5. Nomos: The Law of Liberty
6. Thesis: The Law of Legislation

• Volume 2- The Mirage of Social Justice, University of Chicago Press, 1976 ISBN 0226320839

1. General Welfare and Particular Purposes
2. The Quest for Justice
3. 'Social' or Distributive Justice
4. The Market Order or Catallaxy
5. The Discipline of Abstract Rules and the Emotions of the Tribal Society

• Volume 3- The Political Order of a Free People, University of Chicago Press, 1979 ISBN 0226320901

1. Majority Opinion and Contemporary Democracy
2. The Division of Democratic Powers
3. The Public Sector and the Private Sector
4. Government Policy and the Market
5. The Miscarriage of the Democratic Ideal: A Recapitulation
6. A Model Constitution
7. The Containment of Power and the Dethronement of Politics

Epilogue: The Three Sources of Human Values

External links

• Podcast featuring Prof. Don Boudreaux Donald Boudreaux discusses Law, Legislation and Liberty on EconTalk
  EconTalk
  EconTalk is a weekly podcast hosted by professor Russell Roberts at George Mason University. Roberts interviews guests—often professional economists—on topics in economics....
  
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