Law Commons^™

The Priority Of Persons Revisited, John Finnis

Journal Articles

This essay, in the context of a conference on justice, reviews and reaffirms the main theses of “The Priority of Persons” (2000), and supplements them with the benefit of hindsight in six theses. The wrongness of Roe v. Wade goes wider than was indicated. The secularist scientistic or naturalist dimension of the reigning contemporary ideology is inconsistent with the spiritual reality manifested in every word or gesture of its proponents. The temporal continuity of the existence of human persons and their communities is highly significant for the common good, which is the point and measure of social justice, properly understood. …

Individuals First, Richard Garnett

Journal Articles

Richard Garnett reviews Modern Liberty and the Limits of Government by Charles Fried, W.W. Norton, 224 pp. (2006)

Subsidiarity As A Structural Principle Of International Human Rights Law, Paolo G. Carozza

Journal Articles

This article argues that the principle of subsidiarity should be recognized as a structural principle of international human rights law primarily because of the way that it mediates between the universalizing aspirations of human rights and the fact of the diversity of human communities in the world. The idea of subsidiarity is deeply consonant with the substantive vision of human dignity and the universal common good that is expressed through human rights norms. Yet, at the same time it promotes respect for pluralism by emphasizing the freedom of more local communities to realize their own ends for themselves.

Looking at …

The Practical Impact Of The Common Good In Catholic Social Thought, John J. Coughlin

Journal Articles

As an introduction to the general panel discussion, I would like to pose the following question. Is the notion of the common good in Catholic social thought merely a nice sounding theory, or does it have any real and practical impact?

The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes offers this definition of the common good: "the sum of those conditions" which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily. This notion of the common good places a primacy on the flourishing of individual human beings-spiritually, intellectually, culturally, and financially-through participation in …

Madison's Hope: Virtue, Self-Interest, And The Design Of Electoral Systems, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

In recent years, perhaps no institution of American governance has been so thoroughly and consistently excoriated by legal theorists as the familiar American system of winner-take-all elections. The winner-take-all system is said to waste votes, lead to majority monopolization of political power, and cause the under representation and consequent social and economic subordination of political minorities. Some political scientists have attempted to defend winner-take-all systems on the ground that they perform better than PR in maximizing long-term collective and social interests. This article argues, in contrast, that winner-take-all electoral systems rest upon, and can be adequately defended, if at all, …

What Is The Common Good, And Why Does It Concern The Client's Lawyer?, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

Why is anything of real concern to any of us? Because, besides our simply emotional motives, we have reasons for action (which may be supported or opposed by our emotions). What are reasons for action? Some are instrumental, means to further ends: I have reason to start reading this paper to you, and you had reason to come back into the room to hear it. What reasons? Well, doing so is my contribution to this symposium's reflection on its subject-matter. That reflection, in turn, is intended to be instrumental in promoting a wider and deeper understanding of an important set …

A Word For The Common Good, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

There is an inherent value in relationships amongst people through conversation. This response to Robert A. Burt's article argues that the value in having such dialogue, despite differences among us, stems not solely from the desire for equality; but rather stems from a deeper notion of common good such as community, morality, or something else. (See Robert A. Burt, What Was Wrong with Dred Scott, What's Right about Brown Dread Scott and Brown v. Board of Education: A Frances Lewis Law Center Colloquium, 42 Washington & Lee Law Review 1 (1985).