The Resilience of Law

Vining, Joseph

Abstract

Download This Paper | Share | Email |Add to Briefcase | Purchase Bound Hard Copy

The Resilience of Law

Joseph Vining

University of Michigan Law School

May 1, 2009

Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force, Jefferson Powell, James B. White, eds., Univ. of Michigan Press (2009): pp. 151-171
U of Michigan Public Law Working Paper No. 110
U of Michigan Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 08-008

Abstract:
The development of "law and economics" over the last half-century has expanded and reinforced a perception among academic lawyers that law itself is a social science. During the same period social science has moved closer to the discipline of natural science and the presuppositions and methods of its thought and work. This essay explores why law is not and cannot be a social science, and why there are grounds for hope in a future for democracy grounded in the rule of law.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 24

Keywords: Law and economics, social science, rule of law, public choice theory, game theory, law and language, law and mathematics, realism, authority, individual, profit maximization, cost benefit analysis, torture, eugenics, human-animal hybridization, animal law

JEL Classification: K00

Accepted Paper Series

Download This Paper

Date posted: June 19, 2008 ; Last revised: May 12, 2009

Suggested Citation

Vining, Joseph, The Resilience of Law (May 1, 2009). Law and Democracy in the Empire of Force, Jefferson Powell, James B. White, eds., Univ. of Michigan Press (2009): pp. 151-171; U of Michigan Public Law Working Paper No. 110; U of Michigan Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 08-008. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1147665

Contact Information

Joseph Vining (Contact Author)

University of Michigan Law School ( email )

625 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
United States