Category Archives: Uncategorized

Adam Smith is mostly known as a political economist (The Wealth of Nations) or a moral philosopher (Theory of Moral Sentiments), but did you know that he was also a legal scholar? In fact, Smith was awarded a Doctorate of … Continue reading →

I will be presenting my most recent work on Adam Smith (see here) at the annual meeting of the History of Economics Society, which is taking place at the University of St Thomas in downtown Minneapolis. Updates from the conference … Continue reading →

Originally posted on prior probability:
You may have heard of “The Living Constitution” (i.e. the idea that the Constitution changes over time to meet our current needs), but have you ever heard of “The Living Magna Carta”? If not, check…

See here. (Hat tip: Brian Leiter.) Update (6/16): If you are unfamiliar with this ugly and time-wasting legal monster, check out Judge Richard Posner’s review of The Bluebook. (Also, appendix 2 on pp. 854-857 of this scathing review contains Posner’s … Continue reading →

Did you know that on this day (June 14) in 2002 the planet Earth almost collided with a near-Earth asteroid known as “2002 MN“. The asteriod missed us by a mere 75,000 miles (121,000 km), only about one-third of the … Continue reading →

Originally posted on prior probability:
… “Betsy Ross Day” in honor of a humble woman who helped changed the course of history. Here is her Wikipedia page.

Among other things, on this day (June 13) in 1774, Rhode Island became the first of Britain’s North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves, and on this day in 1525, Martin Luther, the rebel priest who ignited the … Continue reading →

Originally posted on prior probability:
Hey, what are the FBI and the Orlando police trying to hide from the public in connection with the massacre at Pulse nightclub last month? The police’s slow response to the Pulse shootings (it took…