Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2018
Source Publication
Harding, Matthew. Research Handbook on Not-For-Profit Law. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018. < https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785369995>
Abstract
This chapter is concerned with liberal political philosophy and charity law. Given Matthew Harding’s seminal contribution to this topic in his text Charity Law and the Liberal State, it seems fitting to devote this chapter to a critical examination of Harding’s text. Harding asks whether the state’s promotion of charitable purposes through charity law can be philosophically justified from a liberal perspective. Resorting to autonomy-based liberalism to inform a justificatory theory of charity law, Harding argues that it can. There are two vantages from which to evaluate critically Harding’s liberal account of charity law. We can critically consider Harding’s account from a distinctively liberal perspective, by asking whether it misstates one or more of the key claims of autonomy-based liberalism. Alternatively, we can evaluate Harding’s liberal account from a perspective internal to charity law, by considering how well it explains the defining features of the law of charity. Are there important aspects of charity law that autonomy-based liberalism struggles to explain? This chapter assumes the latter vantage. An assessment of Harding’s liberal account from a perspective internal to charity law seems appropriate, given Harding’s description of this theoretical goal. I identify four important features of Harding’s liberal account of charity law in Part 2, and then move on to critically examine each of those features in the balance of the chapter.
Repository Citation
Parachin, Adam, "A Charity Law Perspective on a Liberal Perspective on Charity Law" (2018). Articles & Book Chapters. 3194.
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/3194