The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

448 THE FREEMAN Julyseems unquestionable that weshould reject the legislative process'whenever it is possible for theindividuals involved to obta,intheir group objectives without depen(Ungupon the decision of a.group and without actually constrainingany other people to dowhat they would never do withoutconstraint."Leoni maintains that blind acceptanceof the contemporary legalpoint of view will lead to gradualdestruction of individual freedomof choice in politics, the market,and private life. The contempo-'rary legal point of view meansthe increasing substitution ofgroup decisions - majority ruleforindividual choices.Leoni notes the semantic confusionin the words "freedom" and"constraint" and examines the relationof freedom to such conceptsas the "rule of law," "equality beforethe law," and "representativegovernment." He discusses suchtopics as rent control, privilegesand immunities granted to laborunio'ns, and the general proliferationof statutory and administrativelaw.Freedom and the Law grew outof Professor Leoni's lectures atthe Fifth Institute on Freedomand Competitive Enterprise atClaremont Men's College in 1958.The current edition of the book(first published in 1961) is sponsoredby the Institute for HumaneStudies, Inc., Menlo Park, California.~HANDSOME BLUE LEATHERLEXFREEMANBINDERS$2.50 eachORDER FROM: THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATIONIRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 10533