American Law from a Catholic Perspective

As Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame, asks in his foreword: "What then should one expect to learn from a volume about American law from a Catholic perspective?" His answer is a straightforward one: "One should expect a critical guide to the moral evaluation of laws," noting of the essays collected in American Law from a Catholic Perspective: Through a Clearer Lens: "The moral evaluative perspective which unfolds in succeeding pages illumines, justifies, and critiques America's laws." Edited by Ronald J. Rychlak, American Law from a Catholic Perspective is one of the most comprehensive surveys of American legal topics by a gathering of major Catholic legal scholars. Contributors explore, among other subjects, bankruptcy, bioethics, corporate law, environmental law, ethics, family law, immigration, intellectual property, international human rights, labor law, legal education, legal history, military law, the philosophy of law, property, torts, and several different aspects of constitutional law, including religious freedom, privacy rights, and free speech. Here readers will find probing arguments that bring the critical perspective of Catholic social thought to bear on American legal jurisprudence. Essays include Michael Ariens' account of Catholicism in the intellectual discipline of legal history; William Saunders' assessment of human rights and Catholic social teaching; Hadley Arkes' look at the place of Catholic social thought with respect to bioethics; Lucia Silecchia's examination of a Catholic understanding of stewardship with respect to environmental laws; Dorie Klein's consideration of the place of Catholic views on the death penalty and Eighth Amendment jurisprudence; and many others on major legal topics in American jurisprudence-and their intersection with Catholic social teaching. American Law from a Catholic Perspective: Through a Clearer Lens is essential reading for all Catholic lawyers, judges, and law students, as well as an important contribution to non-Catholic readers seeking guidance from a faith tradition on questions of legal jurisprudence. Based on well-developed and established ideas in Catholic social thought, the evaluations, suggestions, and remedies set forth offer ample food for thought and a basis for action in the realm of legal scholarship.