Description
Book SynopsisEdited by Ronald J. Rychlak, American Law from a Catholic Perspective is one of the most comprehensive surveys of American legal topics by major Catholic legal scholars. Contributors explore bankruptcy, corporate law, environmental law, family law, immigration, labor law, military law, property, torts, and several different aspects of constitutional law, among other subjects. Readers will find probing arguments that bring to bear the critical perspective of Catholic social thought on American legal jurisprudence. Essays include Michael Ariens's account of Catholicism in the intellectual discipline of legal history, William Saunders's assessment of human rights and Catholic social teaching, Hadley Arkes's look at the place of Catholic social thought with respect to bioethics, and many others on major legal topics and their intersection with Catholic social teaching. American Law from a Catholic Perspective is essential reading for all Catholic lawyers, judges, and law students, as well
Trade ReviewRonald Rychlack has put together a highly useful series of articles on the relationship between American law and the teachings of the Catholic Church. In twenty-two chapters this volume discusses areas of law from torts (the law of civil wrongs), to marriage, to the relationship between church and state. Chapters also discuss law-related issues, including the failures of Catholic law schools and the legal implications of the Catholic conception of the person. Sometimes the message is one of congruence, sometimes of disappointment and critique, most often a bit of both. The reader generally is given a helpful summary of central issues of law as seen through the lens of Catholic thought…. Richard Myers provides an impressively succinct and accurate summary of the law of church and state in America…. [This is] a highly useful sourcebook, especially for non-specialists seeking greater understanding of American law from a Catholic perspective. * Catholic Social Science Review *
The contributors to American Law from a Catholic Perspective are well acquainted with the nuance and sophistication of Catholic social teaching. In this fine collection of essays, they evaluate the American legal system against the values that animate the Church’s vision of a just and humane society. The result, to quote Notre Dame law professor Gerry Bradley’s forward, is a primer that is 'relentlessly critical,' but not 'full of criticism.' The authors closely scrutinize American laws on moral grounds, and find much to commend. . . . Because the justifying aims of law are moral, legal pronouncements may be evaluated as to whether or not they are, in fact, good or just. Anyone interested in that endeavor will be well served by consulting American Law from a Catholic Perspective. * The University Bookman *
American Law from a Catholic Perspective helps to remind readers where their allegiances must lie. The attentive reader can begin to see the ways in which he must work to change American law at its very roots to help it conform to the truth proclaimed by the Church. * First Things *
American Law from a Catholic Perspective is just what its title promises and so much more: a brilliant collection of essays from some of the country’s best legal thinkers. This work reveals how practically every area of the law can be illuminated and enriched through a deep grounding in the Catholic faith. It’s a treasure-house of insights and an inspiring demonstration of what it can mean for a jurist to respond wholeheartedly to the call of Vatican II for the laity to bring the social teachings of the Church to life in the professional, social, cultural, and political spheres. -- Mary Ann Glendon, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard University, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See
Precisely because I am not a lawyer, I really liked this book. For an outsider, it provides a crisp guide to the history of American Catholics under American law—a fairly friendly and yet often antagonistic encounter. I hadn’t known that there are 29 Catholic law schools in the United States today, not even that the first of them opened at Notre Dame in 1869. I hadn’t been walked through some main currents of American law, from the long-contested meaning of 'law' among philosophers of law to the current relation of law to bioethics. Catholic legal thinkers have awakened only slowly to the task of bringing new horizons into the national dialogue on law, and are only at the beginnings of doing so. . . . This book provides an invaluable overview, to which I shall want to return for references. -- Michael Novak, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 1994 Templeton laureate
Table of ContentsForeword by Gerard V. Bradley Preface 1.Religion and Roman Catholicism in American Legal History Michael Ariens 2.The Ethics of Lawyers and Judges: Perspectives from Catholic Social Teaching Robert A. Destro 3.A Brief History of American Catholic Legal Education: The Arc of an Uncertain Identity John M. Breen and Lee J. Strang 4.Philosophy of Law Robert P. George 5.Tort Law from a Catholic Perspective Ronald J. Rychlak 6.American Corporate Law and Catholic Social Thought John M. Czarnetzky 7.The Meaning of Person: A Catholic Legal Perspective Robert John Araujo, SJ 8.Church and State Richard S. Myers 9.First Amendment Freedoms and the Right of Privacy: The Necessary Connection Between Rights and Human Dignity That the U.S. Supreme Court Often Fails to Make Stephen M. Krason 10.Equal Protection, Free Speech, and Religious Worship Timothy J. Tracey 11.United States Immigration Law and Policy Through a Catholic Lens Michael A. Scaperlanda 12.Human Dignity and the Death Penalty: Comparing Catholic Social Teaching and Eighth Amendment Jurisprudence Dorie Klein 13.Fidelity and Fairness in Marital Commitments, Covenants, and Contractual Relationships: Mulieris Dignitatem’s Wisdom Kevin H. Govern 14.Catholic Perspectives on Family Law Bill Piatt 15.The Odd Couple: Comparing U.S. Military Law and Roman Catholic Ideology Richard V. Meyer 16.Property Law D. Brian Scarnecchia 17.The Call to Stewardship: A Catholic Perspective on Environmental Responsibility Lucia A. Silecchia 18.American Bankruptcy Law and Catholic Social Theory John M. Czarnetzky 19.Intellectual Property Thomas C. Berg 20.Labor and Employment Law David L. Gregory 21.International Human Rights, Catholic Social Teaching, and American Practice: The Case of Human Rights Treaty Committees William L. Saunders 22.Looking Back, Looking Ahead: A Strategy for the Pro-Life Movement Hadley Arkes Index
