Document Type

Article

Publication Title

University of Chicago Law Review

Abstract

I will explore the proposition of universal first principles in the contexts of common law adjudication and constitution-making. The development of these themes takes place at several stages, all of which stress how a few core principles are sufficient to organize our understanding of both private and public law. Section I therefore gives a brief account of the central and universal principles of private law-principles as applicable to business relations in Eastern Europe as anywhere else in the world. Section II then recapitulates in brief form the basic principles of constitutionalism, which again are as applicable to Eastern Europe as to the democracies of Western Europe and the United States: separation of powers, federalism, and protection of individual rights (including economic liberties). Section III then explores the failure of gradualism, and notes that there are as many hidden perils in the politics of prudence as there are in the politics of radical change. Eastern Europe faces three problems: the first is that of transition; the second is the pressing need to deal with the questions of racial and ethnic divisions; and the third is its inability to forge a durable social consensus on the necessity of strong institutions of private property for both political liberty and economic growth. Taken together, these three points lead to a pessimistic conclusion. It will take uncommon foresight, heroic measures and massive good fortune for Eastern Europe to hit upon the constitutional measures and economic policies needed to overcome the devastation wrought by communist political rule and socialist economic order.

First Page

555

DOI

https://doi.org/10.2307/1599966

Volume

58

Publication Date

1991

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