The Future of the Economic Analysis of Law in Latin America: A Proposal for Alacde Model Law and Economics Civil and Commercial Codes

Abstract

Nothing excites civilian lawyers and judges more than commissions for codification. Codification is more than an academic enterprise. Codification projects directly cut across the interface between law and life. ALACDE intends to harness this Latin American interest in codification to bring the economic approach to Latin America. A new-generation law and economics civil and commercial code will be a conscious project to restate Roman law's usefulness for coping with today's problems. Through law and economics, Roman law will renew itself. As a paradigmatic private-law system, Roman law is eminently amenable to a state-of-the-art fusion with law and economics. Sensitivity to what drives a particular legal culture is vital to a project meant for generating interest in law and economics among a new generation of Latin American lawyers and judges. We feel that the economic approach to law can only have an impact within the legal and social environment of Latin American countries if law and economics adapts to Latin America. Our suggested adaptation is the use of codification.

Keywords: codification, civil code, commercial code, law and economics, civil law, roman law, new-generation code