God and Investment Banking

Colleague Mike Schutt linked to this blog by John Terrill.  Consider the following assertion (quoting Lloyd Blankfein): “Investment banking can be God’s work.”  A fair number of folks would agree with the this sentiment with but one minor emendation: change “God’s” to “devil’s.”  Terrill would, I think, agree with both versions.  Investment banking can serve divine or diabolical ends; it’s what you do with it that matters.  Or, better yet, who you are, that directs the telos of any human endeavor, whether investment banking or social work.

This is undoubtedly true (which is to say, I agree with myself).  Humble sinners tend to do less evil than arrogant ones.  However, we should not ignore the structural question: What should be the place of contract in the world?  I most recently addressed the justification of contract law here but the scope of legally enforceable agreements is a normative one.

Just because we can commodify something and give an agreement related to it legal sanction doesn’t mean that we should.  The existence and scope of contract law is a political issue and, as we have with patenting life forms, our (read “American”) political impulse is to extend legal protection as far as possible.  The question is not socialism or capitalism; the benefits of private ordering have, I think, won the day.  Instead, the contemporary question is whether we should add legal sanctions to social ones.  Whether the law should add its coercive cachet to the sorts of financial instruments whose trade enriched and enriches our investment bankers.

Religious Legal Theory Conference

Back from last week's conference hosted by Seton Hall Law School on "Religious Legal Theory: State of the Field."  Many Christian (Catholic and Evangelical) and Jewish scholars as well as a Muslim and a Buddhist professor spoke.  Sadly, my colleague M.S.Rajpurohit form NLU-Jodhpur at the last minute was unable to make it.  Rob Vischer's (University of St. Thomas) and Amy Uelmen's (Seton Hall) addresses greatly impressed me.  I'll work Amy's comments on a Trinitarian theory of the (lack of a) duty to render assistance in Torts will find its way into my discussion next semester of mitigation of damages in Contracts.

I was pleased that nothing Zach Calo (Valparaiso) said about human rights contradicted what I planned to say.  I worked with Nick Wolterstorff ("Justice: Rights and Wrongs"--see many of my pryorpostsindia blog entries) and Alan Jacobs ("Original Sin: A Cultural History") to provide an account for primary and secondary human rights as well as spreading the forums for vindication of violations of human rights across multiple jurisdictions.  Several good questions and suggestions from the audience.

Bottom line: even though, as David Skeel (UPenn) pointed out, the elite law reviews resist publishing distinctively Christian legal scholarship, plenty of it is happening by many folks at a variety of law schools.  Props to David Opderbeck and Angela Carmella for making this conference happen.