Objective Law (MP3 download)

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By Ayn Rand For several years in the 1960s, Columbia University’s radio station WKCR hosted a program called “Ayn Rand on Campus,” featuring Rand and her associates lecturing and a nswering questions on a wide array of subjects. In this interview, Rand responds to questions about the nature and purpose of law. She discusses the crucial differences between objective and non-objective law, the principles governing rules of evidence, capital punishment, the scope of judicial discretion, and preventive laws, among other subjects. Here are Rand’s views on: Why the purpose of law is to establish principles of social conduct that respect individual rights; The crucial difference between objective laws, which are clearly defined and graspable, and non-objective laws, which lack specific definition and are open to arbitrary interpretation; How non-objective laws permit implementation of increasing controls over the economy; The range of discretion that can properly be allowed to judges; Ignorance of the law as a defense against criminal charges; The invalidity of “preventive” laws; The standards by which rules of evidence are to be established; The problem of capital punishment The injustice of contradictory laws; How the law applies to children and the insane. (MP3 download; 27 min., 20.41 MB) The description of this product was written and/or edited by ARI staff. Show more