Butler D. Shaffer


Butler D. Shaffer was an American author, law professor and speaker, known for his numerous libertarian books and blog articles for LewRockwell.com. He was a professor of Law Emeritus at the Los Angeles-based Southwestern [University School of Law].

Early years

Shaffer completed his B.S. in 1958 and B.A., Arts and Sciences in 1959 from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and received his J.D. in 1961 from University of Chicago. During this time, he became a member of the Colorado and Nebraska State Bars. Not long after graduating from law school, Shaffer took a position with the Midwest Employers Council in Lincoln, Nebraska as a labor relations consultant, and soon established a private law practice in Omaha.
Later, he joined the firm of Nelson, Harding, Marchetti, Leonard and Tate and started an academic career at the University of Nebraska College of Business Administration. Professor Shaffer began teaching at the Southwestern Law University in 1977, and continued as a faculty member until he retired in 2015. He taught courses such as administrative law, antitrust law, legal reasoning, possession and ownership, and property transactions.
In 2002, Shaffer was named the Irwin R. Buchalter Professor of Law in recognition of his outstanding contributions to legal education and scholarship. In 2011, he received the Excellence in Teaching Award, and in 2015, he took Emeritus status. In 2012, Shaffer was awarded the Gary G. Schlarbaum Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Cause of Liberty, which was bestowed by the Mises Institute.

Political Opinions

In his early years, Shaffer was attracted to conservative elements in the Republican Party. In 1961, he became the executive secretary of the Republican Party. By 1964 he had declared his support for the U.S. presidential candidacy of Sen. Barry Goldwater. After the defeat of Goldwater in 1964, Shaffer increasingly moved away from the world of politics, arguing in Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival, that “institutions are the principle means by which conflict is produced and managed in society. Peace is incompatible with institutional activity.”
During this period, Shaffer had come to the conclusion “that limited government was a chimera and that the state was by nature opposed to liberty.” Eventually, he became more responsive to the anarcho-capitalist ideology of Murray Rothbard and Robert LeFevre. Taking a strong libertarian position, Shaffer wrote a weekly column for Freedom Communications Newspaper chain for many years.
Impressed with the classical liberal ideals of Robert LeFevre, who founded the Freedom School/Rampart College, Shaffer conducted a number of classes at the college from 1966 to 1968 in Colorado. He joined with Sy Leon in helping to operate Rampart College in Santa Ana, California, after LeFevre resigned his position in 1973.

Publications

  • The Politicization of Society, Kenneth S. Templeton Jr., edit., Essay 13, "Violence as a Product of Imposed Order,"
  • Calculated Chaos: Institutional Threats to Peace and Human Survival,
  • In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign Against Competition, 1918-1938
  • We Who Dare Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now, M. Polner and T. Woods, editors, chap. “Appendix: Great Antiwar Films,”
  • Facets of Liberty: A Libertarian Primer, L.K. Samuels, edit., Freeland Press, 1985, revised edition, Rampart Institute, 2009), chap. 1, “Who Authorizes the Authorities?”
  • Boundaries of Order: Private Property of a Social System,
  • Our Enemy The State, Albert Jay Nock; Introduction,
  • The Wizards of Ozymandias: Reflections on the Decline and Fall,
  • Why Peace, Marc Guttman, edit., chap. “War and Peace as States of Mind”,
  • A Libertarian Critique of Intellectual Property, ISBN