The Economics of the Restatement and of the Common Law
Boston Univ. School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper No. 13-34
Boston Univ. School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 13-34
21 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2013
Date Written: July 2013
Abstract
The common law process appears to have checks and balances that prevent the self-interest of a particular embedded actor (judge or lawyer) from having a substantial distortive effect. The question that follows is whether the Restatement project is also immune, to the same extent as the common law, from the self-interested incentives of actors involved in its creation. I argue that the Restatement process is far more vulnerable to distortion from self-interest than is the common law process.
Keywords: common law process, Restatement, rule of reason, common law efficiency, utilitarianism and common law, duty and negligence, strict liability, mutual combat
JEL Classification: K00, K13, K19, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation