The Law of Capital: Functions of the Legal System from Marx's Capital, to the European ‘Debt Crisis’

Abstract

Our paper examines Marxist theory of Law from two angles: first, by analysing basic Marxist positions concerning the law system, with emphasis placed on what Marx wrote in his various works, but mainly in Capital. This analysis aspires to point out the absurdity of the widely-held view that no Marxist theory of the state and, by extension, of the Law exists. A second objective is to demonstrate the timeliness of this theory by way of an analysis of the significance of judicial decisions of different countries in the European Union and transnational courts that confirms the relationship between the Law and the reproduction of capital dominance.

Keywords: capitalism, consent, law as politics, Marxism, theories of law