Liam Murphy delivers Lecture in Law & Society at Oxford (VIDEO)

Liam Murphy

Liam Murphy, Herbert Peterfreund Professor of Law and Philosophy, delivered the annual Lecture in Law & Society for the Foundation in Law, Justice and Society on June 13 at the University of Oxford.

In his lecture, “Law and Social Illusion,” Murphy examined how misunderstanding the ethical bases of a market economy’s central legal institutions distorts political debate about taxation and other social justice issues. He discussed natural versus artificial moral ideas, the morality of the market, the distinction between genuine and everyday libertarianism, and fairness in taxation.

“It is law that’s misleading us,” Murphy said in his lecture. “We’re not just confused about the nature of promise and the nature of property. It’s specifically a consequence of living under property law and contract law as we find it in market societies that makes it very hard for us to give up on the idea that our legal rights and obligations reflect real moral rights and obligations.”

Watch the full lecture (1 hr, 3 min):

Posted on July 2, 2013