The Camden Institute derives its name from Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. An English lawyer and judge in the Court of Common Pleas, Charles Pratt fought for such liberties as the trial by jury and right to free speech. One of his most well known arguments was in the case of one William Owen, in which he argued that Owen, a publisher, deserved the right to have the jury decide a matter of law, rather than the judge. Through this defense Camden foiled a wrongful government prosecution and won an acquittal for his client.

 

By hearkening back to the Christianized Anglo-American legal heritage, The Camden Institute comments on modern issues, such as economic regulation or United States foreign policy. While we respect the past, we also recognize that not everything in the past is to be preserved, and in order to discern what was good and what was bad in history, one needs a presuppositional basis on which to stand. Our presuppositions are found in the Christian Scriptures.

 

Where does the Bible lead as far as law and public policy are concerned? In Scripture, we find that men have a right to life, and an absolute right to recover in the case of invasion of property. These rights may be plead against anybody, including the government or acting state agents. As governments regularly invade property through civil forfeiture, evidentiary seizure, taxation, censorship, imminent domain, and other mechanisms, we defend those whose property is stolen in these instances. Furthermore, governments often take the lives of their citizens and those of other states without just cause i.e. illegally. Therefore, we argue that the consistent Christian position is that no acts of war be made except in self-defense, and that no citizens' life be taken without the due process of law.

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Decentralization, unlimited liability, and private arbitration we also see as essential to the process of justice. We therefore defend these values and mechanisms in the light of current events. It should be noted that nothing published by the Camden Institute necessarily represents our views, but only those of the authors. Similarly, an author's publication on our site does not denote his or her agreement with our views, as they are totally free to form their own opinions and we welcome even those that might have a few disagreements with us.