Legal Basis of Capitalism

Author: (American) Commons
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Commons was a renowned American economist, and this book is one of his major works. Starting from a legal interpretation of social and economic development, Commons concluded that law precedes the economy, arguing that the "transaction relationship" as a transfer of ownership precedes the "transfer of goods" as an exchange relationship in existence. He believed that the emergence of the capitalist system should precede the court, as the court protected the victory of capitalist legal systems, dismantled the feudal social system, and cleared the path for the long-term development of capitalism. The publication of the Chinese translation of The Legal Foundations of Capitalism greatly helps us understand the fundamental theories of institutionalism, a Western heterodox economic school. The domestic academic community has too many misunderstandings about institutionalism and often relies on biased evaluations of it by mainstream Western economists, often neglecting to seek valuable ideas from the original works of institutionalists. The publication of this book is highly beneficial for the academic community to understand the heterodox thoughts in Western economics.