Epstein is steeped not in American constitutional law but in Anglo-American common law; it provides the foundations for his thinking, and it animates much of what he writes on the Constitution. On his view of the common law, the central ideals include respect for freedom of contract, strong protection of private property, and an individual right to prevent, or to receive damages for, injury to one’s person or one’s things. The set of rights protected by the common law is radically different from the set of rights protected by modern democratic societies.
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