The Transatlantic Divergence in Legal Thought: American Law and Economics vs. German Doctrinalism
Journal
Hastings International and Comparative Law Review
ISSN
0149-9246
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2008
Author(s)
Grechenig, Kristoffel
;
Gelter, Martin
Abstract (De)
Law and economics has become an integral part of U.S. legal scholarship and the law school curriculum. Ever since the legal realist movement, scholars mostly view the law from an external perspective. It may be surprising to many in the U.S. that European legal scho-larship has been largely resistant to this development. Law is typically viewed "from the in-side," that is as an autonomous discipline independent from the other social sciences. Most legal scholarship is doctrinal, meaning that legal scholars employ interpretative methods in order to systematically expose the law and to find out what the law is, frequently even before it is tackled by a court. U.S.-style legal scholarship is often considered very alien, and law and economics in particular often meets outright rejection.
In this paper, we attempt to explain this divergence in the academic legal discourse us-ing the reception of law and economics in legal scholarship in German-speaking countries as a case in point. However, we suspect that our approach can be generalized to other parts of Europe because of common roots and similar historical factors that can be identified in many parts of Europe.
In this paper, we attempt to explain this divergence in the academic legal discourse us-ing the reception of law and economics in legal scholarship in German-speaking countries as a case in point. However, we suspect that our approach can be generalized to other parts of Europe because of common roots and similar historical factors that can be identified in many parts of Europe.
Language
German
Keywords
Law and Economics
Legal Theory
Legal History
Legal Realism
Free-law movement
Legal Evolution
Utilitarianism
Europe
Germany
United States
Divergence
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
University of California, Hastings College of the Law
Publisher place
San Francisco, Calif.
Volume
31
Number
-
Start page
295
End page
360
Pages
66
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
47377