Law without the State: Legal Attributes and the Coordination of Decentralized Collective Punishment
Journal of Law and Courts, Vol 1, 3-34, Forthcoming
33 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2013 Last revised: 11 Nov 2013
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
Most social scientists take for granted that law is defined by the presence of a centralized authority capable of exacting coercive penalties for violations of legal rules. Moreover, the existing approach to analyzing law in economics and positive political theory works with a very thin concept of law that does not account for the distinctive attributes of legal order as compared with other forms of social order. Drawing on a model developed elsewhere, we reinterpret key case studies to demonstrate how a theoretically informed approach illuminates questions about the emergence, stability, and function of law in supporting economic and democratic growth.
Keywords: legal order, rule of law, coordination, collective punishment
JEL Classification: K1, K4, N40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation