The Selection of Thirteenth-Century Disputes for Litigation
9 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 320-46 (2012)
58 Pages Posted: 12 Jul 2011 Last revised: 19 Dec 2014
Date Written: July 12, 2011
Abstract
Priest and Klein's seminal 1984 article argued that litigated cases differ systematically and predictably from settled cases. This article tests the Priest-Klein selection model using a data set of thirteenth-century English cases. These cases are especially informative because juries rendered verdicts even in settled cases, so one can directly compare verdicts in settled and litigated cases. The results are consistent with the predictions of the Priest-Klein article, as well as with the asymmetric-information selection models developed by Hylton and Shavell.
Keywords: litigation, settlement, selection
JEL Classification: K41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation