# Law, Legislation and Liberty By F. A. von Hayek **URL:** **By** Roy A. Childs, Jr. **Published:** January 1, 1974 --- “"Principles and Expediency" is the most brilliant chapter in the book.” Thirty years ago, a book was published which assaulted the ideology of socialism and the welfare state at its base, by showing that central planning was incompatible with both democracy and the rule of law. The book and its author were scorned by "enlightened" thinkers, but today it seems hauntingly prophetic, particularly in the aftermath of the revelations of Watergate and related crises. Indeed, the book's chapter titles alone seem to have an insight into contemporary events: "Economic Control and Totalitarianism," "Security and Freedom," "The Prospects of International Order," "The Totalitarians in Our Midst," "The End of Truth" and, last but not least, "Why the Worst Get on Top." The book was _The Road to Serfdom_ (available through BFL at $1.95); its author was F. A. von Hayek. Now, in the uneasy aftermath of the Vietnam War, of Watergate and in the midst of economic problems unparalleled in our time, contemporary intellectuals are beginning to "rediscover" the need to place limitations on government power and are standing face to face with the results of government planning. Yet F. A. von Hayek, now in his eight decade of life, is as ignored as ever. But Hayek knows better then today's intellectual elite that Western Civilization is in danger, and he knows that it is precisely in such times when political principles matter the most. _Law, Legislation and Liberty_ is Hayek's newest book, the first of a trilogy devoted to "a new statement of the liberal principles of justice and political economy." It is Hayek's magnum opus. "The thesis of this book," writes Hayek, "is that a condition of liberty in which all are allowed to use their knowledge for their own purposes, restrained only by rules of just conduct of universal application, is likely to produce for them the best conditions for achieving their aims." In this book, Hayek focuses on "Rules and Order"; subsequent volumes will discuss "The Mirage of Social Justice" and "The Political Order of a Free Society." Hayek's argument is detailed and complex, and any attempt to summarize it in so short a space must necessarily fall short of its goal. The six lengthy chapters of the book discuss a wide variety of topics, all related to political principles. "Reason and Evolution" discusses the differences between an evolutionary approach to social-political structures versus the approach of "constructivist rationalism." Hayek maintains that the latter is demonstrably wrong and that social institutions cannot be the result of conscious planning, because "the success of action in society depends on more particular facts than anyone can possibly know." "Cosmos and Taxis" discusses two different kinds of order in society: the order of organizations where hierarchies and concrete rules and commands are predominant, and "spontaneous order," which results automatically from individuals following their own goals and purposes in a context, limited only by certain broad principles of justice. "Principles and Expediency" is the most brilliant chapter in the book. Hayek maintains that "freedom can be preserved only if it is treated as a supreme principle which must not be sacrificed for particular advantages" and shows why we must choose between statism and a society of liberty on principle. His insights here are brilliantly effective in combating all arguments from "expediency." The final three chapters take up different aspects of the concept and nature of law, particularly the contrast between "the law of liberty" and "the law of legislation." If I were to attempt to summarize Hayek's argument, I would say that he is attempting to undermine both "the society of status" (to which the Western World is quickly reverting) and government planning at their base. He shows that they are inappropriate for man, given the structure of his consciousness, particularly in the case of government planning, since government planners cannot identify and take into account all of the particular facts—ever changing—to which individual actors must be free to respond on the basis of their own context, knowledge and judgment. "This is the gist of the argument against 'interference' or 'intervention' in the market order," writes Hayek. "The reason why such isolated commands requiring specific actions by members of the spontaneous order can never improve but must disrupt that order is that they will refer to a part of a system of interdependent actions determined by information and guided by purposes known only to the several acting persons but not to the directing authority. The spontaneous order arises from each element balancing all the various factors operating on it and by adjusting all its various actions to each other, a balance which will be destroyed if some of the actions are determined by another agency on the basis of different knowledge and in the service of different ends." If this seems abstract, observe that it precisely explains how government interference led down the long road to the "energy crisis" and why further attempts at planning will only lead to greater economic crises. Certainly there is more to this great book than this, and I do not want to imply that I agree with the totality of Hayek's argument here. But his position is substantially better than that which he presented over a decade ago in _The Constitution of Liberty_; there, for example, he criticized reason and "rationalism," while in _Law, Legislation and Liberty_ he merely criticizes a certain naive view of reason and rationalism. All in all, it is one of the great political works of the century, very well written and containing a mass of references for future reading. Highly recommended. _Reviewed by R.A. CHILDS, JR. / Political Philosophy (184 pages, indexed) / BFL Price $7.95_