Liberty and Law examines a previously underappreciated theme in legal history - the idea of permissive natural law. The idea is mentioned only peripherally, if at all, in modern histories of natural law. Yet it engaged the attention of jurists, philosophers, and theologians over a long period and formed an integral part of their teachings. This ensured that natural law was not conceived of as merely a set of commands and prohibitions that restricted human conduct, but also as affirming a realm of human freedom, understood as both freedom from subjection and freedom of choice. Freedom can be used in many ways, and throughout the whole period from 1100 to 1800 the idea of permissive natural law was deployed for various purposes in response to different problems that arose. It was frequently invoked to explain the origin of private property and the beginnings of civil government.

This volume in the Second Series of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson contains the two important parliamentary documents he prepared during his lifelong study of the subject. Jefferson compiled the first document, called the Parliamentary Pocket-Book," while he was president of the Senate by virtue of his position as Vice- President of the United States. This informal guide was the basis for the Manual of Parliamentary Practice, which Jefferson completed in its earliest form by 1800 and which he had published in 1801. The Manual was the new nation's first full parliamentary rule book and is American democracy's reliable guide to its English parliamentary tradition. Still cited on the floors of Congress. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.