American Commercial Common Law

Abstract:     
The economy of a state (‘dependent state’) may depend relatively more upon the economy of another, less dependent, state (‘dominant state’) than vice versa. This paper shows how the ‘dominant state’ can wield leverage over the issue of which legal rules to include in a uniform commercial law. In the preparation of a uniform commercial law, the ‘dependent state’ looks more likely to make a trade-off between increased interstate economic activity and applying less-preferred legal rules. Within the conceptual framework of historical and comparative institutional analysis (HCIA), the successful effort to unify and codify American Commercial Common Law is used as a case study.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: HCIA, legal transplants, unification of law, U.S. uniform commercial code

JEL Classification: K00

working papers series