SOURCE: Russello, Gerald J. “The Jurisprudence of Russell Kirk.” Modern Age 38, no. 4 (fall 1996): 354-63.

In the following essay, Russello examines Kirk's theories of jurisprudence.

“Juris praecepta sunt haec, honeste vivere, alterum non laedere, suum cuique tribuere.”¹

The works of Russell Kirk contain a number of reflections on the place of law in society and its philosophical and cultural bases. Neither a legal philosopher nor a practical politician, Kirk rarely touched in any detail on particular legal issues or concentrated in any systematic way on the structure of legal institutions, with the partial exception of legal education. He was, however, concerned with discerning the twin bases of moral conduct. Kirk loosely grouped one under the term natural law, which provides a guide to our actions, and the other he called justice, which evidences a proper regard for what is rightly due to others.

Resting beneath these concerns is the...