This article is about Richard Epstein the professor of law; for the American game theorist, see Richard A. Epstein.

Richard Epstein
Born	April 17, 1943 (1943-04-17) (age 66) New York City
Nationality	United States
Fields	Law and economics
Institutions	University of Chicago Law School New York University School of Law
Alma mater	Columbia University Oxford University Yale Law School

Richard Allen Epstein (born April 17, 1943) is the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, the Faculty Director for Curriculum, and the Director, Law and Economics Program at the University of Chicago Law School. He is also an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Since 2007, he has been a visiting professor of law at New York University School of Law, and will be joining as a permanent faculty member in 2010.^[1] Epstein is considered one of the most influential legal thinkers of modern times.^[2]

Born to Jewish parents in New York, he has written on a wide variety of legal topics, and is known for a classic liberal approach to issues in legal theory. Epstein's high-profile defense of tobacco companies during the 1990s was controversial. Epstein is well-known for his arguments against anti-discrimination laws, among other positions. At the Law School, Epstein is known for his cheerful, talkative manner as well as his confident views.

[edit] Books authored

Perhaps his most well-known work is Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain, published by Harvard University Press in 1985. In that book, Epstein argues the government should be regarded with the same respect as any other private entity in a property dispute. Though U.S. Senator Joseph Biden denounced the book during the confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the book served as a focal point in the argument about the government's ability to control private property.^[3]

The book has also influenced how some courts view property rights^[4] and has been cited by the United States Supreme Court in four cases, including Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council from 1992.^[3]

[edit] Education

Epstein graduated summa cum laude from Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1964. He received a B.A. in jurisprudence from Oxford in 1966 (with first-class honours). He graduated cum laude from Yale Law School with an LL.B. in 1968. He began his teaching career at the University of Southern California Law School.

[edit] Politics

Epstein has said that when voting, he chooses "anyone but the Big Two" who are "just two members of the same statist party fighting over whose friends will get favors"; he has voted Libertarian.^[5] Epstein says he is "certainly a Calvin Coolidge fan; he made some mistakes, but he was a small-government guy."^[5]

[edit] Books Epstein has written or edited

• 2009 The Case Against the Employee Free Choice Act. Hoover Institution Press Publication. Amazon
• 2007 (editor, with Michael Greve). Federal Preemption: States' Powers, National Interests. AEI Press.
• 2006. How Progressives Rewrote the Constitution. Cato Institute.
• 2006. Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation. Yale University Press
• 2004. Cases and Materials on Torts, 8th ed. Aspen Law & Business., 7th. ed. Aspen Law & Business. 1995, 6th ed., Little, Brown & Co. 1990, 5th ed., Little, Brown & Co.
• 2003. Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism. University of Chicago Press.
• 2001 (with Cass Sunstein). The Vote: Bush, Gore & the Supreme Court. University of Chicago Press.
• 2000 (editor). Liberty, Property and the Law (5 Volumes, with series introduction and volume introductions). Garlard Press.
• 1999. Torts. Aspen Law & Business.
• 1998. Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good. Perseus.
• 1997. Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Health Care? Addison-Wesley.
• 1995. Simple Rules for Complex World. Harvard University Press.
• 1993. Bargaining with the State. Princeton University Press.
• 1993. Torts Supplement for Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts. Little, Brown Inc.
• 1992. Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws. Harvard University Press.
• 1992 (edited with Geoffrey R. Stone & Cass R. Sunstein). The Bill of Rights in the Modern State. University of Chicago Press.
• 1987. Supplement to Cases and Materials on Torts. Little, Brown & Co.
• 1985 (edited with Jeffrey Paul). Labor Law and the Employment Market. New Brunswick: Transaction Press.
• 1985. Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain. Harvard University Press.
• 1984 (with C. Gregory and H. Kalven). Cases and Materials on the Law of Tort, 4th ed. Little, Brown.
• 1981. Supplement to Cases and Materials on the Law of Tort. Little, Brown.
• 1980. Modern Products Liability Law. Quorum Books of the Greenwood Press.

[edit] See also

• Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Conference
• Libertarian theories of law

[edit] External links

• Richard Epstein's Home Page at University of Chicago
• "Taking Exception", interview in Reason by Steve Chapman
• EconTalk podcast on:The Rule of Law
• EconTalk podcast on:Happiness, Inequaltiy, and Envy
• EconTalk podcast on:Property Rights, Zoning, and Kelo
• EconTalk podcast on:Property Rights and Drug Patents
• EconTalk podcast on:Legistlators vs. Wal-Mart
• EconTalk podcast on:The Economics of Organ Donation
• Interview with Richard Epstein, Hoover Institution's Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, October 29, 2006
• Forbes Magazine "The Libertarian" online column

[edit] References