The Guarantees of Freedom

Hayek (1960) distinguishes the institutions of English freedom, which guarantee the independence of judges from political interference in the administration of justice, from those of American freedom, which allow judges to restrain law-making powers of the sovereign through constitutional review. We create a data base of constitutional rules in 71 countries that reflect these institutions of English and American freedom, and ask whether these rules predict economic and political freedom in a cross-section of countries. We find that the English institutions of judicial independence are strong predictors of economic freedom and weaker predictors of political freedom. The American institutions of checks and balances are strong predictors of political but not of economic freedom. Judicial independence explains half of the positive effect of common law legal origin on measures of economic freedom.

Lawyers’ Professional Independence: Overrated or Undervalued?

This article explores the concept of lawyers’ professional independence in the literature of the U.S. legal profession. It begins with some reflections on the conventional meanings of professional independence, which encompasses both the bar’s collective independence to regulate its members and individual lawyers’ independence in the context of professional representations, including independence from clients, on one hand, and independence from third parties, on the other. The article suggests that the professional conduct rules are overly preoccupied with protecting lawyers’ professional independence from the corrupting influences of other professionals. The article then turns to an aspect of professional independence that has largely dropped out of lawyers’ discourse but that deserves more attention, namely, lawyers’ independence from the courts. This includes: (1) freedom to criticize judges; (2) freedom to disobey arguably unlawful court orders; and (3) freedom to resolve certain ethical dilemmas for oneself, as a matter of professional conscience. The article maintains that as the bar has become strongly identified and allied with the judiciary, motivated by the interests in securing judicial protection from other government regulation and in securing the bar’s own institutional influence over individual lawyers, the bar has ignored this understanding and redefined professional independence consistently with a strong judicial role in regulating lawyers

The Guarantees of Freedom

Hayek (1960) distinguishes the institutions of English freedom, which guarantee the independence of judges from political interference in the administration of justice, from those of American freedom, which allow judges to restrain law-making powers of the sovereign through constitutional review. We create a data base of constitutional rules in 71 countries that reflect these institutions of English and American freedom, and ask whether these rules predict economic and political freedom in a cross-section of countries. We find that the English institutions of judicial independence are strong predictors of economic freedom and weaker predictors of political freedom. The American institutions of checks and balances are strong predictors of political but not of economic freedom. Judicial independence explains half of the positive effect of common law legal origin on measures of economic freedom.

Independence as Relational Freedom

In spite of its everyday connotations, the term independence as republicans understand it is not a celebration of individualism or self-reliance but embodies an acknowledgement of the importance of personal and social relationships in people’s lives. It reflects our connectedness rather than separateness and is in this regard a relational ideal. Properly understood, independence is a useful concept in addressing a fundamental problem in social philosophy that has preoccupied theorists of relational autonomy, namely how to reconcile the idea of individual human agency with the inevitable and necessary influence of other people, both directly and indirectly. I derive my account from the work of Mary Wollstonecraft and Catharine Macaulay, whose contributions have remained largely overlooked by current republican theorists. I have three purposes in this chapter. First, I set out the relational character of independence. Secondly, I outline a republican approach to the problem of structural social threats to agency. Finally, I hope to establish the basis for a fruitful dialogue between republicans and relational autonomy theorists on the requirements and dynamics of individual agency and freedom in oppressive social situations. I identify three distinctive features of the internal logic of freedom as independence that give it a relational character: it always locates the person within a community; there is a mediating role played by the notion of arbitrariness in connecting individual and collective perspectives; a causal relationship exists linking each person’s freedom as independence such that that the dependence of one class of persons jeopardizes the independence of the whole community

The Role of the African Church Movement in Nigeria’s Independence

There are some churches in Nigeria that have an African outlook and characteristics. These churches are fully under African leadership, most of them were founded in the 1960s and 1950s. Most of them broke off from the orthodox and white dominated churches as a result of oppression by the whites and a desire for freedom and independence. These churches make up the African church movement. They played an important role in the attainment of Nigeria’s independence. This paper looks at the meaning, the role of the movement in Nigeria’s independence and the place of other factors in Nigeria’s independence

Gandhi – An Economist's Eye View

The foundation for the independence approach of Gandhi were more based on Social and Personal freedom than Economic independency and prosperity of the people concerned. British rulers in South Africa and India strategically used the social wedges as a tool to utilise the occupied territory and people, for the economic gains of Britain and their people. Any Psyco-social management action on the public can over power the management decision of any ruler, however powerful they may be. A social freedom movement develops attractive domestic economic concepts. But, without any thought, methodology or any plan to create the resources, infrastructure and input to achieve the same. Social freedom inducts domestic orientation. Opens up the past cultural heritages. Pools the people and their thoughts towards self development. But a strategic management methodology to achieve the same are absent. Literature, the inner spirits and social freedom thoughts go together. But how to get economic prosperity, rule and manage the nation after independence were completely blank. Social freedom, not based on economic development orientation and a blind belief that people can rule themselves leads to apartheid, unsafe alliances, export of local talents to developed nations and a looping poverty. Management and Productivity (Both Government and Private) concepts and evaluation should be with reference to Socio-Economic Development units, than unilateral quantum and financial units. Intangible (Psychological, Social, Environmental, International and Universal) components should be given more importance, than physical and financial factors. Domestic investments should be from Domestic Savings. Domestic technology (Latest moderated to suit local environments) should be manned by Domestic Manpower. Any public investment should be justified with reference to a cumulative gain in Economic, Financial, Social and Technological rate of return.apartheid, british rule, commonwealth, democracy, domestic, economic, gandhi, independence, investment, japan, manpower, panchayat raj, poetic freedom, social, sarvodaya, satyagraha, savings, swadeshi, swaraj, technology, trusteeship