Libertarian theories of law

Libertarian theories of law build upon classical liberal and individualist doctrines.

Part of a series on
Libertarianism in the United States
Origins Age of Enlightenment Abolitionism in the United States Classical liberalism Anti-Federalism Transcendentalism Individualist anarchism in the United States Old Right New Left Freedom School
Concepts Anti-imperialism Civil libertarianism Constitutionalism Counter-economics Decentralization Departurism Economic freedom Evictionism Free banking Free market Free-market environmentalism Free migration Free trade Free will Freedom of association Freedom of contract Freedom of speech Homestead principle Individuality Individualism Libertarianism Liberty Limited government Localism Marriage privatization Natural rights and legal rights Non-aggression principle Non-interventionism Non-politics Non-voting Open border Polycentric law Private defense agency Private property Public choice theory Restorative justice Right to bear arms Rugged Individualism Self-ownership Single tax Small government Spontaneous order Stateless society Tax resistance Title-transfer theory of contract Voluntary association Voluntary society
Schools Agorism Anarcho-capitalism Austro Autarchism Bleeding-heart Christian Consequentialist Feminist Fusionism Geo Green Left-wing market anarchism Minarchism Natural-rights Neo Paleo Panarchism Paternalist Propertarianism Techno Transhumanist Voluntaryism
Economics Austrian School Economic liberalism Fiscal conservatism Georgism Laissez-faire Neoliberalism Supply-side economics
People Amash Andrews Barnett Block Brennan Burt Chamberlain Caplan Carson Chartier Chodorov Chomsky Cleveland Coolidge Epstein D. Friedman M. Friedman P. Friedman R. Friedman Galambos Garrett George Gillespie Goldwater Greene Gutfeld Harper Hazlitt Heinlein Hess Heywood Hoppe Hospers Huemer Jillette Johnson Jorgensen Kinsella C. Koch D. Koch Konkin III C. Lane R. Lane LeFevre Machan McElroy Mencken Mises Napolitano Nock Nolan Nozick Paterson Paul Postrel Pugsley Rand Read Rockwell Rothbard Sarwark Schulman Sciabarra Scott Smith Sowell Skousen Spooner Stossel Swartz Szasz Taleb Teller Thiel Thoreau Tucker Ventura Warren Wilder Williams Wilson Woods
Issues Abortion Capital punishment Criticism Foreign affairs Immigration Intellectual property Internal debates LGBT rights Objectivism Political parties Politics State Theories of law
Culture Come and take it Gadsden flag Libertarian science fiction Ron Swanson
Organizations Cato Institute Federalist Society Free State Project Foundation for Economic Education International Alliance of Libertarian Parties Libertarian Party Liberty International Mises Institute Reason Foundation Students for a Democratic Society Students for Liberty
Works The Anarchist Cookbook Anarchy, State, and Utopia The Betrayal of the American Right Civil Disobedience Conceived in Liberty Defending the Undefendable The Discovery of Freedom End the Fed The Ethics of Liberty For a New Liberty Free to Choose The God of the Machine Liberty The Machinery of Freedom Man, Economy and State The Moon is a Harsh Mistress The Mainspring of Human Progress The Market for Liberty No, They Can't No Treason New Libertarian Manifesto Our Enemy, the State The Problem of Political Authority Progress and Poverty Protection or Free Trade Radicals for Capitalism Seeing Like a State To Serve and Protect The Unconstitutionality of Slavery
Related topics American militia movement Boogaloo movement Conservatism in the United States Dark Enlightenment Left-libertarianism Liberalism in the United States Libertarian conservatism Libertarian Democrat Libertarian Republican Libertarian socialism Libertarianism in Hong Kong Libertarianism in South Africa Libertarianism in the United Kingdom New Right Objectivism On Democracy in America Outline of libertarianism Right-libertarianism Sovereign citizen movement
Liberalism portal  Conservatism portal  Libertarianism portal  United States portal

The defining characteristics of libertarian legal theory are its insistence that the amount of governmental intervention should be kept to a minimum and the primary functions of law should be enforcement of contracts and social order, though social order is often seen as a desirable side effect of a free market rather than a philosophical necessity.

Historically, the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek is the most important libertarian legal theorist. Another important predecessor was Lysander Spooner, a 19th-century American individualist anarchist and lawyer. John Locke was also an influence on libertarian legal theory (see Two Treatises of Government).

Ideas range from anarcho-capitalism to a minimal state providing physical protection and enforcement of contracts. Some advocate regulation, including the existence of a police force, military, public land and public infrastructure. Geolibertarians oppose absolute ownership of land on Georgist grounds.