From "Liberty and Property" to "Regulation and Democracy". The juridical-constitutional path of USA economic governance, from late eighteenth century to "early New Deal"

Shutting down the New Deal’s «foremost experiment with corporatism», the Schechter ruling seemed to mark the unchangeable laissez-faire nature of American economy and constitutionalism. Few years later, the accomplishment of the “regulatory state” clearly proved that it had been not. This paper aims to retrace the history of American regulation marked by iconic judicial cases – e.g. the Munn, Lochner, Nebbia cases, which shaped a unique model of regulated capitalism for the United States. Over the course of a century, discussing these cases and moving from traditional liberal cornerstones, justices, professors, and policymakers contributed to defining a completely revisited image of individual liberties and public powers, especially private property and its nexus with American democracy. Indeed, the American constitution showed a brand-new face after the New Deal Era in terms of constitutional powers balance and economic regulation, even without experiencing the political trauma other countries had through those years.