About the Author

Butler Shaffer grew up in Nebraska and holds both B.Sc. and B.A. degrees from the University of Nebraska. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School. After practicing law for seven years, he began teaching, and is now a professor at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. He teaches courses in property law, legal reasoning, and a seminar on informal systems of order. Much of his teaching is in the SCALE program, which offers an alternative two-year course leading to a J.D. degree.

He is married and the father of three grown daughters. He has written many articles as well as two published books: Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival (1985), and In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918-1938 (1997). He has finished the writing of two other books: The Unfolding Civilization: The Redistribution of Authority in the 21^st Century, and Reclaiming Social Order: Private Property As a Condition for Peace and Liberty.

First Chapter                                Table of Contents