Freedom and the Law. Bruno Leoni

      Bruno Leoni was a devoted proponent, in virtually all his activities, of those ideals we call liberal. He was a remarkable talented, intelligent, able, persuasive, multifaceted individual who might well have deserved the description. Renaissance man, if it were not for the fact that the words have been so frequently misapplied.

      Born April 26, 1913, Bruno Leoni lived a dynamic, intense, vigorous, and complex life as a scholar, lawyer, merchant, amateur architect, musician, art connoisseur, linguist, and—above all else—as a defender of the principles of individual freedom in which he so passionately believed. He was Professor of Legal Theory and the Theory of the State at the University of Pavia, where he also served as Chairman of the Faculty of Political Science, as Director of the Institute of Political Science, and as founder-editor of the quartely journal, Il Politico. As a distinguished visiting scholar, he traveled all over the world, delivering lectures at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester (in England), and Virginia and Yale (in the United States), to mention only a few. As a practicing attorney, he maintained both his law office and his residence in Turin where he was also active in the Center for Methodological Studies. He found time, on occasion, to contribute columns to the economic and financial newspaper of Milan, 24 ore. His successful efforts in saving the lives of many allied military personnel during the German occupation of northern Italy gained him not only a fold watch inscribed “To Bruno Leoni for Gallant Service to the Allies, 1945,” but also the eternal gratitude of too many persons to mention. In September 1967, he was elected President of the Mont Pelerin Society at the Congress of the Society held in Vichy, France. This was the culmination of long years of service as Secretary of the Society to which he devoted a major portion of his time and energies.

      Bruno Leoni died tragically on the night of November 21, 1967, at the height of his career, at the peak of his powers, and in the prime of his life. The community of scholars all over the world is poorer without him because it has been denied those promised accomplishments and achievements he could not live to finish.

      For anyone interested in knowing something of the depth and breadth of his interests, there is no better place to start than a perusal of two sources. A compilation of the works of Bruno Leoni, together with poignant testimonials by his friends and colleagues, may be found in the volume entitled, Omaggio a Bruno Leoni, collected and edited by Dr. Pasquale Scaramozzino (Ed. A. Giuffre, Milan, 1969). A casual reading will convince even the most skeptical of his wide-ranging interests and scholarly erudition. There is also the cumulative index to Il Politico, the multidisciplinary quarterly he founded in 1950, prepared so ably by Professor Scaramozzino.

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      From 1954 through 1959, I had the pleasure, the duty, and the honor to administer six Institutes on Freedom and Competitive Enterprise held at Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College) in Claremont, California. The Institutes were designed to present a program of graduate lectures in economics and political science of special interest to those teaching related subjects as members of the faculties of American colleges and universities. At each of these Institutes three distinguished scholars were invited to present individually an analysis of freedom as the source of economic and political principles; an analysis of the development of the free market mechansim and its operation; and a study of the philosophical bases, characteristics, virtues, and defects of the private enterprise system.

      Approximately thirty Fellows participated in each of these Institutes, selected from al ong list of applicants and nominees—most were professors or instructors in economics, political science, business administration, sociology, and history. A few were research scholars or writers and, here and there, even an academic dean or two. In all, about 190 Fellows participated in the six Institutes, drawn from ninety different colleges and universities located in forty different states, Canada, and Mexico.

      The distinguished lecturers, in addition to Professor Bruno Leoni, Professor Ronald H. Coase, Professor Herrell F. De Graff, Professor Aaron Director, Professor Milton Friedman, Professor F. A. Hayek, Professor Herbert Heaton, Professor John Jewkes, Professor Frank H. Knight, Dr. Felix Morley, Jacques L. Rueff, and Professor Davdi McCord Wright.

      In an effort to increase both the quality and quantity of international intellectual communication, so far as possible at least one lecturer at each Institute represented the European scholarly tradition.

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      I first met Bruno Leoni in September 1957 at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in St. Moritz, Switzerland. We were both relativelty new members of the Society, and both of us were presenting formal papers at one of the sessions. Following my return to the Univted States. I convinced my colleagues of the desirability of inviting