Bruno Leoni

Bruno Leoni

Bruno Leoni (born April 26, 1913 in Ancona , † November 21, 1967 in Turin ) was an Italian legal philosopher and lawyer . He is considered a representative of classical liberalism .

Leoni was editor of the political science journal Il Politico and secretary, later president of the Mont Pèlerin Society . From 1942 until his death he taught at the University of Pavia .

biography

Born in Ancona in 1913, he lived his life in Turin (where he lived and practiced his profession as a lawyer), in Pavia (where he taught at the University of Pavia from 1945 until his tragic disappearance and death in 1967 ) and in Sardinia (where he cultivated family and friendly relationships).

As a student of the Italian philosopher Gioele Solari, whose research assistant he was, in 1942 he became an associate professor of political science at the University of Pavia . However, he was to be kept from studying and teaching for some time during the war years. In the course of the war he was to become a member of the so-called A Force, a secret organization of the Allies that campaigned for the liberation and rescue of soldiers.

He was only able to begin his academic activities at the end of the war in 1945. He also taught legal philosophy and became President of the Faculty of Political Science (1948–1960).

As the founder of the specialist magazine Il Politico , he also developed an intensive activity as a publicist, publishing numerous comments for the Italian business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore . As a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society (of which he became secretary and later president) he also devoted himself intensively to the Center for Methodological Studies in Turin, as well as to the Center for Research and Documentation " Luigi Einaudi ".

meaning

Within the legal philosophy of the 20th century, Bruno Leoni is ordained as a representative of classical liberalism . As a multi-faceted lawyer and philosopher, he played a crucial role in spreading liberal values ​​and beliefs in Italian culture by propagating themes and authors of contemporary liberalism and opening up new social perspectives with a focus on private property and the free market.

With his work he also paved the way for new scientific developments such as the New Political Economy or the general collaboration of various scientific disciplines such as law , philosophy , political science and economics . After his death in 1967 he was almost forgotten in Italy for a long time. One of his most important works, "Freedom and the Law" (published in English in 1961) was only translated into Italian 30 years later. This may also be due to the fact that his thinking corresponded much more to the American tradition than the European zeitgeist. Today the Italian think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni is dedicated to his memory.

assassination

At the age of only 54 Bruno Leoni was murdered under tragic circumstances in Alpignano (ten kilometers west of Turin ). The perpetrator, Osvaldo Quero, was an employee of his law firm and had been involved in fraud and money embezzlement. Leoni, who confronted him with this, was subsequently murdered by Quero with several blows to the head. His killer then hid him in a garage and tried to fake a kidnapping, but he was immediately exposed. At the memorial service in Pavia held, among others, Friedrich August von Hayek a speech.

bibliography

• Bruno Leoni (1940). Il problema della scienza giuridica , Turin, Giappichelli, pp. 195 (“Memorie dell'Istituto giuridico dell'Università di Torino,” memoria XLV).
• Bruno Leoni (1942). Per una teoria dell'irrazionale nel diritto , Turin, Giappichelli, p. 210 (“Memorie dell'Istituto giuridico dell'Università di Torino,” memoria LI). An abridged version of the first chapter was published in Giusnaturalismo, filosofia del diritto e scienza giuridica, “Bollettino dell'Istituto di Filosofia del Diritto dell'Università di Roma,” n. 2, pp. 47-55.
• Bruno Leoni (1949). Lezioni di filosofia del diritto: vol. I, Il pensiero antico , Pavia, Viscontea, pp. 203 (lithograph).
• Bruno Leoni (1950). Review of FA HAYEK, Individualism and Economic Order , in “L'Industria,” n. 1, pp. 145-157.
• Bruno Leoni (1950). Review of L. MISES, Human Action , in “L'Industria,” n. 3, pp. 469-475.
• Bruno Leoni (1953). Il pensiero politico e sociale nell'Ottocento e Novecento , in Questioni di storia contemporanea, edited by E. Rota, vol. II, Milan, Marzorati, pp. 1121-1338. The first chapter of this essay, titled Individualismo, socialismo ed altri concetti politici, was published in “Il Politico,” 1952, n. 2, pp. 145-165.
• Bruno Leoni (1955). Possibilità di applicazione delle matematiche alle discipline economiche (with Eugenio FROLA), in “Il Politico,” n. 2, pp. 190-210; also published in E. FROLA, Scritti metodologici, Introduzione di L. Geymonat, Turin, Giappichelli, 1964, pp. 85-109; English translation On Mathematical Thinking in Economics, “Journal of Libertarian Studies,” vol. 1, No. 2 pp. 101-109, Pergamon Press, 1977.
• Bruno Leoni (1956). Il pensiero cristiano (Appendix to Lezioni di Filosofia del diritto: Il pensiero antico, II ed.), Pavia, Viscontea, pp. 28.
• Bruno Leoni (1957). The Meaning of “Political” in Political Decisions , “Political Studies,” n. 3, pp. 225-239, re-published as an appendix to the third edition of (1961e); Italian translation Natura e significato delle “decisioni politiche,” in “Il Politico,” n. 1, 1957, pp. 3-26.
• Bruno Leoni (1960). Political Decisions and Majority Rule , in “Il Politico,” n. 4, pp. 724-733; trad. it., Decisioni politiche e regola di maggioranza, in “Il Politico,” n. 4 pp. 711-722; re-published as an appendix to the third edition of 1961.
• Bruno Leoni (1961), Freedom and the Law , D. Van Nostrand Company, INC.
• Bruno Leoni (1961). Some Reflections on the “Relativistic” Meaning of Freedom of Value in the Study of Man , in Relativism and the Study of Man, ed. By H. Schoeck, JW Wiggins, Princeton, van Nostrand Company Inc., pp. 158-174; Italian translation Riflessioni sul significato “relativistico” della Freeness nello studio dell'uomo, in “Il Politico,” 1977, n. 4, pp. 625-638.
• Bruno Leoni (1961). The Economic Approach to the Politics , in “Il Politico,” n. 3 pp. 491-502, re-published as an appendix to the third edition of (1961e); Italian translation L'approccio economistico nello studio delle scelte politiche, in “Il Politico,” n. 3, pp. 477-489.
• Bruno Leoni (1963). A “Neo-Jeffersonian” Theory of the Province of the Judiciary in a Democratic Society , in “UCLA Law Review,” n. 4, pp. 965-984; Italian translation Una teoria “neo-jeffersoniana” della funzione del potere giudiziario in una società democratica, “Il Politico,” 1964, n. 2, pp. 357-375.
• Bruno Leoni (1964). Are Rational Economic Policies Feasible in Western Democratic Countries? , in “Il Politico,” n. 3, pp. 698-701; Italian translation, ibidem, pp. 702-706.
• Bruno Leoni (1964). The Law as Claim of the Individual , in “Archive for Legal and Social Philosophy,” pp. 45-58 and re-printed as an appendix to the third English edition of (1961e); Italian translation in (1997a).
• Bruno Leoni (1965). Les hommes libres et le futur de l'économie de marché , in “Il Politico,” n. 4, pp. 852-856.
• Bruno Leoni (1965). (ed.) Mont Pélerin Society. 23 Papers presented at the Fourteenth General Meeting: Semmering, Austria, September 7–12, 1964, Varese, Tipografia Multa Paucis.
• Bruno Leoni (1966). Two Views of Liberty , Occidental and Oriental (?), In “Il Politico,” n. 4, pp. 638-651.
• Bruno Leoni (2008). Law, Liberty and the Competitive Market , edited by Carlo Lottieri, with a preface by Richard A. Epstein, New Brunswick NJ, Transaction.

Web links

• Istituto Bruno Leoni

Individual evidence

1. ^ Riscoprire Bruno Leoni. Retrieved February 21, 2019 . 
2. ^ Riscoprire Bruno Leoni. Retrieved February 22, 2019 . 
3. ^ Archos. Biography: Bruno Leoni. Retrieved February 22, 2019 . 
4. ^ Riscoprire Bruno Leoni. Retrieved February 22, 2019 . 
5. ^ La Stampa - Consultazione Archivio. Retrieved February 22, 2019 . 
6. ^ Riscoprire Bruno Leoni. Retrieved February 22, 2019 .