Abstract
It is debatable whether, as a form of jurisprudence, American legal realism has any relevance to economic thought. Certainly there is an argument to the effect that to discern an economic dimension to realist jurisprudence is to misunderstand the nature of the enterprise (see Leiter 1996). Yet, during the past two decades, American legal realism has been influential largely because of what some consider to be its economic significance. This essay proceeds in three stages. First, I shall explain how legal realism can be understood as a form of legal-economic analysis. Secondly, I shall outline the influence of legal realism so conceived. Finally, I shall attempt to develop a specific criticism of ‘realist’ law and economics.
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© 2002 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Duxbury, N. (2002). American Legal Realism. In: Newman, P. (eds) The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-74173-1_16
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