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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2025

Verónica Rodríguez-Blanco*
Affiliation:
University of Surrey, UK

Abstract

Information

Type
Introduction
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Faculty of Law, Western University

Published in 1995, Ernest Weinrib’s field-changing book, The Idea of Private Law, is one of the most influential and important works in private law theory over the last thirty years. Weinrib combined the Aristotelian notion of corrective justice with the normative Kantian framework of rights and duties to illuminate the immanent, formal, and internal character of private law. He inspired future generations with a new approach and method for thinking about private law, focusing on the continuity of private law’s internal structure, the coherent content of its doctrines, and its philosophical foundations. Published in 2022, his latest book, Reciprocal Freedom, takes on the challenge of accounting for the relationship between private law and corrective justice, as well as distributive justice, public law, and the rule of law. In this special issue, a number of leading scholars offer their views on different chapters of Reciprocal Freedom. Professor Weinrib has kindly responded to the authors’ comments.

I express my gratitude to the University of Surrey Centre for Law and Philosophy for sponsoring a symposium where the authors presented their contributions. I am especially grateful to Professor Weinrib for his participation and to the authors for their insights on his work. I am also grateful to the Editors of the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, Margaret Martin and Zoë Sinel, for their support.