Abstract
The standard model of evolution in the economics of law, its important
insights notwithstanding, lacks a good account of inheritance to go
with analogues to variation and selection. The normative implication
of the standard model, which is that self-organising and spontaneous
orders will tend to efficiency, is also misplaced. Just as the association
of evolution with progress, characteristic of the theory of legal
evolution of a century ago, is now understood to be anachronistic, so
it is time to discard outmoded notions linking judge-made law and
common law legal reasoning with evolution to efficiency. Setting aside
the unwarranted normative connotations of evolutionary models
would release them to shape empirical research. Evolutionary theory
informs methods, including leximetrics, time-series econometrics and
machine learning, with the potential to throw light on the structural
dynamics of legal change, and to resolve questions of law’s coevolution
with the economy which were raised but not resolved by the legal
origins debate.
insights notwithstanding, lacks a good account of inheritance to go
with analogues to variation and selection. The normative implication
of the standard model, which is that self-organising and spontaneous
orders will tend to efficiency, is also misplaced. Just as the association
of evolution with progress, characteristic of the theory of legal
evolution of a century ago, is now understood to be anachronistic, so
it is time to discard outmoded notions linking judge-made law and
common law legal reasoning with evolution to efficiency. Setting aside
the unwarranted normative connotations of evolutionary models
would release them to shape empirical research. Evolutionary theory
informs methods, including leximetrics, time-series econometrics and
machine learning, with the potential to throw light on the structural
dynamics of legal change, and to resolve questions of law’s coevolution
with the economy which were raised but not resolved by the legal
origins debate.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Northern Ireland Law Quarterly |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Mar 2022 |