The Tie that Binds: Some Thoughts about the Rule of Law, Law and Economics, Collective Action Theory, Reciprocity, and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

Abstract

I am deeply grateful and honored to have been selected as the first holder of the J.B. Smith Distinguished Professorship in Constitutional Law and pleased to offer this inaugural lecture. James Barclay Smith was and remains a legendary figure at the University of Kansas - famous for his penetrating intellect, his witty sayings, and his devotion to the forms of civility. I can only hope one day to be described, as J.B. Smith has been, as a "great constitutionalist".

An inaugural lecture presents a unique challenge and a unique opportunity. The challenge is to say something profound that befits the high honor of the occasion, while keeping it accessible and interesting to a diverse audience that includes family and friends, faculty from various disciplines throughout the university, and colleagues from the law school. The opportunity is to say whatever you want to a captive audience. I decided not to worry about saying anything profound or accessible and indulge in the opportunity to say what I want to a captive audience.

This lecture brings together a variety of little ideas I have had over the years that seem to me important and connected, yet do not lend themselves to the usual forms of legal scholarship. In some ways the ideas are disparate and you may wonder as I proceed whether they belong together at all. I assure you, I do have a point that brings all these ideas together, at least in my own mind.