Comparative Law and Economics

Author: (USA) Matthew
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Although comparative studies of law and legal systems have greatly enriched our understanding of the status and role of law in society through the comparative analysis of laws and legal systems in different countries, such research often lacks a strong theoretical framework. Even scholars who study the status and role of law in society, by applying economic theory, have provided a good theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between law and society, but they often focus only on American legal issues. In this book, Ugo Mattei avoids these shortcomings by constructively integrating the academic insights of comparative law and economics, which will undoubtedly deepen our understanding of why some societies adopt different legal systems while others have similar ones. In this book, Mattei explains how economic concepts can be applied to comparative law research, and then applies these concepts to several major issues in the field of comparative law research, including the history and sources of law, the differences between the civil law system and the common law system, and the reasons for legal changes from one country to another. In this book, he also examines several specific issues in property law, contract law, and trust law; finally, he applies the academic insights he has developed to the study of legal changes in developing countries and former socialist countries. This book will be very interesting for scholars in the fields of law, economics, and development studies, and will also be fascinating for scholars studying the transformation of former socialist countries.