''Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty'' is a 2003 book about the United States Constitution written by

Randy Barnett Randy Evan Barnett (born February 5, 1952) is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and is the director of the Georg ...

, a professor of law at the

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

. In the book, Barnett outlines his theory of constitutional legitimacy, interpretation, and construction. He argues that the Constitution should be interpreted by its "original meaning", distinct from the Founding Fathers'

original intent Original intent is a theory in law concerning constitutional and statutory interpretation. It is frequently used as a synonym for originalism; while original intent is indeed one theory in the originalist family, it has some salient differenc ...

. ''Restoring the Lost Constitution'' was awarded the 2005 Lysander Spooner Award for Advancing the Literature of Liberty by Laissez Faire Books.

Summary

''Restoring the Lost Constitution'' is broken into four parts, each addressing an aspect of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

. # Constitutional Legitimacy describes the most common arguments for constitutional legitimacy, and argues against them in practical terms. Barnett suggests that in practice it is impossible for any constitution to derive its legitimacy from consent, but it must rather derive legitimacy through "necessity" and "propriety". # Constitutional Method # Constitutional Limits # Constitutional Powers

Reception

The ''

Journal of Libertarian Studies Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). It wa ...

'' reviewed the book, stating that "though well-intentioned, the book is fatally flawed". The Future of Freedom Foundation praised ''Restoring the Lost Constitution'', comparing it to "a great symphony on which the composer labored for years, poring over passages again and again to get them just right."

The Atlas Society The Atlas Society (TAS) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand. It is part of the Objectivist movement that split off from the Ayn Rand Institute in 1990 due to disagreements over whether Objectiv ...

also reviewed the book, writing "Despite its occasional lack of focus, ''Restoring the Lost Constitution'' is a succinct and accurate distillation of libertarian constitutional theory—and it convincingly shows that this phrase is largely redundant." Steven G. Calabresi of the Michigan Law Review Association praised the work, citing that it "replaces Richard Epstein's ''Takings'' as the leading tome about constitutional law written from a libertarian perspective". The American Political Science Association reviewed the book, saying that it was "a welcome addition to a never-ending debate". Ronald Kahn of the Law and Politics Book Review wrote that the book was "terrific in demonstrating the natural rights background to our Constitution and demonstrating that all rights cannot be listed in the Constitution", but that "Barnett's fundamental problem is that he allows for 'constitutional construction' when originalism cannot tell us which meanings to adopt, but he does not seem to allow for social construction of law, or changing social meanings". In ''Ethics'' Matthew Simpson criticized ''Restoring the Lost Constitution'', stating that while Barnett "argues persuasively that an unprincipled judiciary poses a great threat to constitutionalism in America ... his own principle for reading the Constitution, the presumption of liberty, is implausible and deeply flawed".Simpson, Matthew. ''Ethics'', The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 116, No. 1, October 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Restoring The Lost Constitution 2003 non-fiction books United States constitutional commentary Libertarian books American non-fiction books Princeton University Press books