Bruno Leoni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bruno Leoni (April 26, 1913–November 21, 1967) was an Italian classical-liberal political philosopher and lawyer.

Besides being editor for the political science journal Il Politico, Leoni was also involved as secretary and later president of the Mont Pelerin Society. He taught at the University of Pavia from 1942 on to his death.

A well-known book of him is Freedom and the Law, published in English in 1961. In this work he points out the importance of the historical law (Roman jus civile and English common law) and he is very critical towards modern legislation and the idea that law can be the simple outcome of a political decision. Another important contribution of Leoni to the legal thought is his theory about the law as individual claim (he presents this ideas in many articles and essays).

Following Richard Posner, Leoni has been also one of the fathers of the Law and Economics school.

Carlo Lottieri has written an important monograph on Leoni's thought (Le ragioni del diritto. Libertà individuale e ordine giuridico nel pensiero di Bruno Leoni, Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 2006).