Your idea of Halacha as a type of common law reminded me of him. He had similar ideas about the Talmud, and, from what I remember, used them to defend the English common law tradition against Hobbes and Milton’s more rationalistic approach to law.
I am in the process of reading the main institutions of Jewish law. There is an attempt to place common law and Jewish law in the same category. I tend to strongly disagree with the impulse. They operate procedurally the same, but functionally goverment law and moral law (Halacha) are completely different things and should be treated separately. One concerns government (security forces) action the other human action. Halacha should not have an enforcement mechanism.
Great article. Curious if you know who John Selden was.
I had to look him up! I actually think I may have read about him in Nelson's the Hebrew Commonwealth.
Your idea of Halacha as a type of common law reminded me of him. He had similar ideas about the Talmud, and, from what I remember, used them to defend the English common law tradition against Hobbes and Milton’s more rationalistic approach to law.
Is there precedent for citing Lipset in conversations about halakha? Kol haKavod.
I am in the process of reading the main institutions of Jewish law. There is an attempt to place common law and Jewish law in the same category. I tend to strongly disagree with the impulse. They operate procedurally the same, but functionally goverment law and moral law (Halacha) are completely different things and should be treated separately. One concerns government (security forces) action the other human action. Halacha should not have an enforcement mechanism.