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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Jody S. Kraus
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Steven D. Walt
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

Efficiency is the dominant theoretical paradigm in contemporary corporate and commercial law scholarship. The jurisprudential foundations of corporate and commercial law, then, are the foundations of efficiency analysis. They present a mix of historical, moral, and methodological questions, as well as issues of institutional design. What are the historical roots of efficiency analysis in contract, sales, and corporate law? Is moral theory irrelevant to efficiency analysis in these areas? If moral theory is relevant, are morality and efficiency compatible? Even if efficiency is otherwise reasonable as a normative goal in corporate and commercial law, does the complexity of efficiency make it practical to administer in adjudication? What is the best way of pursuing efficiency in corporate and commercial law? The essays in this volume address one or more of these jurisprudential questions.

The historical roots of efficiency analysis. In Chapter 1, “Karl Llewellyn and the Origins of Contract Theory,” Alan Schwartz argues that Llewellyn was an important proponent of the modern law and economics approach to regulating contracts. The received view of Llewellyn depicts him as a rule-sceptic who sometimes advocated the regulation of sales contracts by standards other than economic efficiency. Schwartz rejects the received view, based on a critical evaluation of Llewellyn's writings on sales law between 1925 and 1940. Llewellyn's proposals, as efforts at law reform, assumed the existence and efficacy of legal rules regulating sales contracts, and only sought to replace bad rules with better ones.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Jody S. Kraus, University of Virginia, Steven D. Walt, University of Virginia
  • Book: The Jurisprudential Foundations of Corporate and Commercial Law
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527449.001
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  • Introduction
  • Edited by Jody S. Kraus, University of Virginia, Steven D. Walt, University of Virginia
  • Book: The Jurisprudential Foundations of Corporate and Commercial Law
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527449.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Edited by Jody S. Kraus, University of Virginia, Steven D. Walt, University of Virginia
  • Book: The Jurisprudential Foundations of Corporate and Commercial Law
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527449.001
Available formats
×