Abstract
Justice is tested by agreement. If men disagree then nothing is just. That is why the constitutional contractarian is obliged to put consultative procedures first. Equity is inseparable from consent. God has been dead for a century. Democracy is all that remains: ‘A “fair rule” is one that is agreed to by the players in advance of play itself, before the particularized positions of the players come to be identified. Note carefully what this definition says: A rule is fair if players agree to it. It does not say that players agree because a rule is fair’ (CW XVII, 313).
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© 2015 David Reisman
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Reisman, D. (2015). Social Justice: Buchanan and Rawls. In: James Buchanan. Great Thinkers in Economics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137427182_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137427182_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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