In this book, legal scholar Randy Barnett elaborates and defends the fundamental premise of the Declaration of Independence: that all persons have a natural right to pursue happiness so long as they respect the equal rights of others, and that governments are only justly established to secure these rights. Drawing upon insights from philosophy, economics, political theory, and law, Barnett explains why, when people pursue happiness while living in society with each other, they confront the pervasive social problems of knowledge, interest and power. These problems are best dealt with by ensuring the liberty of the people to pursue their own ends, but this liberty is distinguished from "license" by certain fundamental rights and procedures associated with the classical liberal conception of "justice" and "the rule of law." He then outlines the constitutional framework that is needed to put these principles into practice. In a new Afterword to this second edition, Barnett elaborates on this thesis by responding to several important criticisms of the original work. He then explains how this "libertarian" approach is more modest than either the "social justice" theories of the left or the "legal moralism" of the right.

The U.S. Constitution found in school textbooks and under glass in Washington is not the one enforced today by the Supreme Court. In "Restoring the Lost Constitution," Randy Barnett argues that since the nation's founding, but especially since the 1930s, the courts have been cutting holes in the original Constitution and its amendments to eliminate the parts that protect liberty from the power of government. From the Commerce Clause, to the Necessary and Proper Clause, to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, to the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has rendered each of these provisions toothless. In the process, the written Constitution has been lost.

Barnett establishes the original meaning of these lost clauses and offers a practical way to restore them to their central role in constraining government: adopting a "presumption of liberty" to give the benefit of the doubt to citizens when laws restrict their rightful exercises of liberty. He also provides a new, realistic and philosophically rigorous theory of constitutional legitimacy that justifies both interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning and, where that meaning is vague or open-ended, construing it so as to better protect the rights retained by the people.

As clearly argued as it is insightful and provocative, "Restoring the Lost Constitution" forcefully disputes the conventional wisdom, posing a powerful challenge to which others must now respond.

This updated edition features an afterword with further reflections on individual popular sovereignty, originalist interpretation, judicial engagement, and the gravitational force that original meaning has exerted on the Supreme Court in several recent cases.

Written by the leading expert in the field, The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Contracts provides students with ready access to the basic doctrines of contract law, the story behind their evolution, and the rationales for their continued existence. An engaging book that allows students to grasp the "big picture" of contract law, it is organized around the principle that lies at the heart of contracts: consent. Beginning with the premise of "consent," the book provides a cohesive framework in which to understand the various aspects of contract law.

This anthology of scholarship by distinguished legal academicians on the Ninth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution comes at a time when interest in the Ninth Amendment is on the rise. The Rights Retained by the People brings together in one volume the critical writings on the Ninth Amendment, from the first published article (1936) to several important articles published in the 1980s. This invaluable anthology is an essential addition to constitutional law collections. Contributors: James Madison, Edward S. Corwin, Knowlton H. Kelsey, Bennett B. Patterson, Norman Redlich, Eugene M. Van Loan, III, Randy E. Barnett, John Hart Ely, Raoul Berger, Simeon C.R. McIntosh, Russell L. Caplan, Calvin R. Massey, and Charles L. Black, Jr. Co-published with the Cato Institute.