Description
Book SynopsisIn a remarkable book based on prodigious research, Horwitz offers a sweeping overview of the emergence of a national legal system from English and colonial antecedents. He treats the evolution of common law as intellectual history and demonstrates how shifting views of private law became a dynamic element in the economic growth of the U.S.
Trade ReviewHe has read widely in many fields...[and] has gathered a rich harvest for any reader...a remarkable achievement. * Yale Law Journal *
It is to be hoped that a wide audience will read it since the issues it raises are indispensable...Horwitz's book is written with a passion. * New York Review of Books *
A thoughtful contribution to the continuing issue of whether and how much we are governed by our judges. * Library Journal *
One of the five most significant books ever published in the field of American legal history. -- William E. Nelson, Yale University
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Emergence of an Instrumental Conception of Law 2. The Transformation in the Conception of Property 3. Subsidization of Economic Growth through the Legal System 4. Competition and Economic Development 5. The Relation between the Bar and Commercial Interests 6. The Triumph of Contract The Equitable Conception of Contract in the Eighteenth Century The Rise of a Market Economy and the Development of the Will Theory of Contract Custom and Contract Tort and Contract 7. The Development of Commercial Law The Rise of Negotiability The Law of Insurance: The Development of Actuarial Conceptions of Risk Usury Swift v. Tyson: The Rise of a General Commercial Law 8. The Rise of Legal Formalism Notes Index
