Customary law and economics

Customary law has been the subject of intense debate and the issues arising from the intersection of customs and the law are far from settled. This volume, separated into three parts brings together seminal work from scholars in law, economics and history. The first section analyses various perspectives on the history of customary law. Part two focuses on the commercial customary law and includes a number of case studies covering the role and limits of customary systems in a variety of commercial settings. The final section explores the role of custom in international law from a variety of legal and economic perspectives. Along with an original introduction by Professors Bernstein and Parisi, this valuable collection will be of interest to scholars, practitioners and academics with an interest in this diverse and interdisciplinary field.

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Lisa Bernstein and Francesco Parisi PART I CUSTOMARY LAW: HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Bruce L. Benson (1989), 'The Spontaneous Evolution of Commercial Law' 2. Emily Kadens (2012), 'The Myth of the Customary Law Merchant' 3. Leon E. Trakman (1983), 'The Medieval Law Merchant' 4. Daniel Klerman (2009), 'The Emergence of English Commercial Law: Analysis Inspired by the Ottoman Experience' 5. Avner Greif, Paul Milgrom and Barry R. Weingast (1994), 'Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild' 6. Paul R. Milgrom, Douglass C. North and Barry R. Weingast (1990), 'The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs' PART II COMMERCIAL CUSTOMARY LAW: CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATIONS 7. Janet T. Landa (1981), 'A Theory of the Ethnically Homogeneous Middleman Group: An Institutional Alternative to Contract Law' 8. Lisa Bernstein (1992), 'Opting out of the Legal System: Extralegal Contractual Relations in the Diamond Industry' 9. Lisa Bernstein (1996), 'Merchant Law in a Merchant Court: Rethinking the Code's Search for Immanent Business Norms' 10. Eric A. Feldman (2006), 'The Tuna Court: Law and Norms in the World's Premier Fish Market' 11. Robert D. Cooter (1994), 'Structural Adjudication and the New Law Merchant: A Model of Decentralized Law' 12. Lisa Bernstein (2001), 'The Questionable Empirical Basis of Article 2's Incorporation Strategy: A Preliminary Study' 13. Robert C. Ellickson (1989), 'A Hypothesis of Wealth-Maximizing Norms: Evidence from the Whaling Industry' PART III INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMARY LAW 14. Eric A. Posner and Alan O. Sykes (2013), 'Customary International Law' 15. Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner (1999), 'A Theory of Customary International Law' 16. Jack L. Goldsmith and Eric A. Posner (2000), 'Understanding the Resemblance Between Modern and Traditional Customary International Law' 17. Eugene Kontorovich (2006), 'Inefficient Customs in International Law' 18. Vincy Fon and Francesco Parisi (2009), 'Stability and Change In International Customary Law' 19. Curtis A. Bradley and Mitu Gulati (2009), 'Withdrawing from International Custom' 20. Francesco Parisi and Vincy Fon (2009), 'Customary Law and Articulation Theories'