Richard Epstein

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This article is about Richard Epstein the American professor of law, and not Richard Epstein the pianist.

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Richard A. Epstein, born in 1943, is currently the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He has written on a wide variety of legal topics, and is known for a generally libertarian approach to issues in legal theory. Epstein is well-known for his arguments against anti-discrimination laws, among other positions. At the Law School, Epstein is known for his cheerful, talkative manner as well as his confident views. He prefers to be identified as a classical liberal rather than as a libertarian.

Perhaps his most well-known work is Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain, published by Harvard University Press in 1985. In that book, Epstein argues the government should be regarded with the same respect as any other private entity in a property dispute. Though Senator Joseph Biden denounced the book in Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearings, the book served as a focal point in the argument about the government's ability to control private property. [1]

Epstein graduated summa cum laude from Columbia with a B.A. in 1964. He received a B.A. in jurisprudence from Oxford in 1966 (with First Class Honors). He graduated cum laude from Yale Law School with an LL.B. in 1968. He began his teaching career at the University of Southern California Law School.

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Bibliography of works by Epstein

Skepticism and Freedom: A Modern Case for Classical Liberalism (University of Chicago Press 2003).
The Vote: Bush, Gore & the Supreme Court (University of Chicago Press 2001) (with Cass Sunstein).
Cases and Materials on Torts, 7th ed. (Aspen Law & Business 2000); 6th ed. (Little, Brown & Co. 1995); 5th ed, (Little, Brown & Co. 1990).
Liberty, Property and the Law (5 Volumes, with series introduction and volume introductions) (Garlard Press 2000) (editor).
Torts (Aspen Law & Business 1999).
Principles for a Free Society: Reconciling Individual Liberty with the Common Good (Perseus 1998).
Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Health Care? (Addison-Wesley 1997).
Simple Rules for Complex World (Harvard University Press 1995).
Bargaining with the State (Princeton University Press 1993).
Torts Supplement for Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts (Little, Brown Inc. 1993).
Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws (Harvard University Press, 1992).
The Bill of Rights in the Modern State (University of Chicago Press 1992) (ed., with Geoffrey R. Stone & Cass R. Sunstein).
Supplement to Cases and Materials on Tort (Little, Brown & Co. 1987).
Labor Law and the Employment Market (New Brunswick Transaction Press 1985) (ed., with Jeffrey Paul).
Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain (Harvard University Press 1985).
Cases and Materials on the Law of Tort (Little, Brown 1984) (with C. Gregory and H. Kalven: 4th ed.)
Supplement to Cases and Materials on the Law of Tort (Little, Brown 1981).
Modern Products Liability Law (Quorum Books of the Greenwood Press 1980).
Cases and Materials on the Law of Tort (Little, Brown 1977) (with C. Gregory and H. Kalven: 3d ed.)