Details
When individuals, businesses, or corporations are dissatisfied with an existing law, there are typically two ways it can be fixed: by rewriting the law via political mechanisms or simply physically relocating to a more favorable jurisdiction. Both can be costly and time-consuming.
This book explores a new way of looking at law, not as something that can be changed only through cumbersome political and legislative processes or avoided by physical movement, but as something that can be shopped for in a market. To a significant extent this perspective on the law is already a reality. Wherever they may be located, corporations are free to choose in which state to incorporate (often Delaware) and online shoppers from one state or country who buy from a company located in another state or country usually agree to provisions that dictate the law governing the transaction from yet another state or country. Disconnecting the choice of law from the location of activities creates a market for law that allows the involved parties to choose which jurisdiction will apply to their relationship, contract, or dispute.
The resulting law markets, Ribstein and O'Hara argue, can work to increase efficiency, create better laws, and ensure that laws in all jurisdictions serve the interests of those they govern.
Features
- Presents a new theory of and perspective on law as something for which people and firms can shop
- Synthesizes a broad range of legal topics, including corporate and securities law, arbitration, marriage and family law, property law, and consumer law
- Provides a new perspective on the respective roles of federal and state jurisdictions, which has particular relevance to the US, European Union, and other federal systems
1. Introduction
2. Policy Arguments
3. Choice-of-Law Principles
4. The Creation of a Law Market
5. Arbitration and The Law Market
6. The corporate Law Market
7. Consumer Contracts
8. Marriage and Other Social Issues
9. Property
10. A Federal Choice-of-law Statute
11. Summary and Implications
Notes ;
Erin A. O'Hara is Professor of Law, and Director of the Law & Human Behavior Program at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of The Economics of Conflict of Laws.
Larry E. Ribstein is Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law, and co-Director of the Program on Business Law & Policy at the University of Illinois. He is the co-author ofBusiness Associations and The Economics of Federalism.
"O'Hara and Ribstein are the first to expose how the ability of private persons to choose the law that shall govern them - in business and in their personal lives - is transforming our legal system. Drawing on public policy and economics in an approachable, commonsense way, they sketch the implications of the law market for our world today, and show how its emergence calls for a careful balance between individual freedom and regulation to advance the public good. This book is a must-read, not only for lawyers with real-world clients but also for every corporate general counsel and legislative staff member grappling with our globalized law market." --Richard A. Nagareda, Vanderbilt University Law School
"This is a pathbreaking book - theoretically sophisticated and carefully applied. O'Hara and Ribstein's concept of the 'law market' captures an essential truth about the conflicts revolution, and their thesis carries profound implications for wide swaths of the law, ranging from international investment disputes to same-sex marriage." --Peter B. Rutledge, University of Georgia Law School
"The Law Marker significantly enriches the discussion about jurisdictional competition and enhances our understanding of the underlying forces."--American Journal of Comparative Law
"The Law Market promises to add some much-needed clarity and common sense to a 'largely ignored field of law.'"--Harvard Law Review
"One of the most important metrics for evaluating the success of an academic work is the degree to which it sparks further questions...Evaluated along this dimension, The Law Market must be deemed a smashing success."--Engage: The Journal of the Federalist Society's Practice Groups
"O'Hara and Ribstein's book is a breakthrough in legal scholarship. Recognizing that the unprecedented mobility of today's society gives economic actors substantial choice over the law that will govern their affairs, the authors analyze law as a product that is produced by states and marketed to consumers. The authors thereby identify a fundamental feature of contemporary business law that has until now been overlooked or only imperfectly understood. The book is chock-full of original insights into the operation of this 'market for law', and offers a valuable analysis of the pros and cons of this development from the standpoint of public policy." --Geoffrey P. Miller, New York University Law School
