Preaching to the Choir

Abstract

At a time when many of the most important institutions of government administration under intellectual and political attack,1 Richard Epstein's Simple Rules for a Complex World attempts suggest a plausible alternative the modern regulatory state. Epstein comes this project with a wideranging knowledge of the law and a demonstrated ability focus on the broadest perspective. A nationally known torts scholar,2 he is also the author of Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain? which seeks provide a comprehensive theory of the Takings Clause.4 In his latest, more ambitious, book, Epstein envisions an entire legal system transformed reflect the value of simplicity. At the core of Epstein's proposal to edge back toward the state of nature (p. 36) seven simple largely based on the common law. These rules, he advises the popular audience which this work is directed (p. ix), offer solutions all but five ten percent of the possible problems a legal system might confront (p. 53) and go a long way toward establishing a stable legal order largely impervious variations . . . within and across societies (p. 112). They heavily depend on the conviction that cooperative ventures and legal arrangements are better left private ordering than public control (p. xi).