The Timing of Lawmaking

Legal reasoning, pronouncements of judgment, the design and implementation of statutes, and even constitution-making and discourse all depend on timing. This compelling study examines the diverse interactions between law and time, and provides important perspectives on how law's architecture can be understood through time.

The book reconsiders older work on legal transitions and breaks new ground on timing rules, especially with respect to how judges, legislators and regulators use time as a tool when devising new rules. At its core, The Timing of Lawmaking goes directly to the heart of the most basic of legal debates: when should we respect the past, and when should we make a clean break for the future?

This unique resource draws on examples from administrative law, banking law, budget law, constitutional law, criminal law, environmental law, inheritance law, national security law, tax law, and tort law, and will be of interest to academics studying law, political science and economics, as well as to policymakers, legislators, and judges.

Contributors include: E. Alston, F. Fagan, D.A. Farber, J.E. Gersen, T. Ginsburg, D. Kamin, S. Levmore, A. Niblett, M.C. Nussbaum, E.A. Posner, J.M. Ramseyer, A.M. Samaha, D. Shaviro, J. Suk

Edited by Frank Fagan, Professor of Law, South Texas College of Law Houston and Saul Levmore, William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School