The Pursuit of Justice Law and Economics of Legal Institutions

by López, Edward J.; Tollison, Robert D.

• ISBN13: 9780230102453
• ISBN10: 023010245X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The Pursuit of Justiceis a realistic yet hopeful analysis of how the law works in practice rather than in theory. The multi-chapter discussion recognizes that decision makers in the law -- judges, lawyers, juries, police, forensic experts and more -- respond systematically to the incentive structures with which they are confronted. In turn, incentives are a function of economic and institutional design. While these chapters shed light on how perverse incentives result in adverse outcomes, each chapter also suggests institutional reforms that would create better incentives within the legal system.

Author Biography

Edward J. López is a research fellow at the Independent Institute and a professor of law and economics at San Jose State University.

Table of Contents

An Introduction to the Pursuit of Justice--Edward J. Lopez * The Rise of Government Law Enforcement in England--Nicholas Currott * Electoral Pressures and the Legal System: Friends or Foes?--Russell S. Sobel * Romancing Forensics: Legal Failure in Forensic Science Administration--Roger G. Koppl * Judicial Checks on Corruption--Adriana Cordis * Effects of Judicial Selection on Criminal Sentencing--Aleksandar Tomic  * Economic Development Takings as Government Failure--Ilya Somin * On the Impossibility of “Just Compensation” When Property is Taken--John Brätland * The Lawyer-Judge Hypothesis--Benjamin H. Barton * Class Action Rent Extraction--Jeffrey Haymond * Cy Pres and its Predators--Charles N. W. Keckler * Licensing Lawyers: Failure in the Provision of Legal Services--Adam B. Summers