A Great Scholar: Harold Berman
18 November 2007
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Douglas Martin's obituary of Harold Berman is eloquent and wise ("Harold J. Berman, 89, Who Altered Beliefs About Origins of Western Law, Dies," November 18). But in describing the thrust of Professor Berman's most celebrated work - his 1983 book Law and Revolution - Mr. Martin misses that work's central point.
That point is not so much that today's western legal tradition began earlier than the 16th century. Rather, the point is that law in the west emerged from the competition between popes and princes for sovereign power - and from the competition of both church and state with manors, cities, and merchants for jurisdiction over a wide variety of disputes. Mr. Berman's momentous scholarship revealed that our modern conception of law as being exclusively the dictate of a sovereign power is mistaken.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Douglas Martin's obituary of Harold Berman is eloquent and wise ("Harold J. Berman, 89, Who Altered Beliefs About Origins of Western Law, Dies," November 18). But in describing the thrust of Professor Berman's most celebrated work - his 1983 book Law and Revolution - Mr. Martin misses that work's central point.
That point is not so much that today's western legal tradition began earlier than the 16th century. Rather, the point is that law in the west emerged from the competition between popes and princes for sovereign power - and from the competition of both church and state with manors, cities, and merchants for jurisdiction over a wide variety of disputes. Mr. Berman's momentous scholarship revealed that our modern conception of law as being exclusively the dictate of a sovereign power is mistaken.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday May 5, 2008 at 10:42am