Some Notes on Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Criminal Law
RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON THE ECONOMICS OF CRIMINAL LAW, A. Harel, K. Hylton, eds., Edward Elgar, 2011
Boston University School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper Series, No. 10-21
35 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2010 Last revised: 9 Jul 2011
Date Written: July 27, 2010
Abstract
The property-liability rules framework, which offers a robust positive theory of criminal law, has come under attack in recent years. One critique, which I label the Indifference Proposition, argues that property rules and liability rules are equivalent in low transaction cost settings. In this paper I examine the conditions under which the Indifference Proposition is valid. In several plausible low transaction-cost settings the proposition is not valid.
Keywords: property rules, liability rules, criminal law, transaction costs, bounded rationality, predation, defensive conduct
JEL Classification: K00, K11, K14, K39, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation