The Limits of Law
Year: 1999
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper, which is the final chapter of a book of essays on the subject, explores the limits of law by drawing on a wide range of theoretical and empirical materials in order to compare legal rules to informal social norms and markets, its main competitors in the shaping of social behavior. The paper first presents three major critiques of law: libertarian, functionalist, and illegitimacy. Next, it explores important features of law, norms, and markets by exploring their interrelationships and then broadly comparing them to one another in light of five vital criteria for policy design: (1) incentives; (2) information; (3) flexibility; (4) transaction costs; and (5) legitimacy. Finally, it develops five general principles, together with specific applications, regarding how law, norms, and markets might best be used to promote whatever policies the polity may adopt. These principles emphasize (1) the importance of comparing alternatives; (2) implementation analysis; (3) process efficiency; (4) sociological, spatial, and temporal responsiveness; and (5) law minimization.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Peter H. Schuck
Institution: Yale University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2272219383