Economic Principles of Law by C. Veljanovski
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2008.00703_3.x |
| Author | Andrew Johnston |
| Published date | 01 May 2008 |
| Date | 01 May 2008 |
opening chapter. And sohe co ncludes that for as longas ar med con£ict continues
and for as long as children in those war-torn countries lack educational and
employment opportunities and strive for security t hey will thems elves volunta-
rilyjoinamilitaryforce.
The book provides a solid and thorough analysis of the is sue of child soldiers
and presentsthe discussion of the lawin this area in an interesting and methodical
way. The book considerably expands understanding of the law in this area and
will be appreciated by both experts and novices alike.
Karen Hulme
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C. Velja n ov sk i, Economic Principles of Law,Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2007, 294 pp, pb d19.9 9.
Cento Veljanovski is Managing Partner of Case Associates and has published
widely in law and economics and competition law. His latest work joins Ogus’
Costs and Ca utionaryTales (Hart, 20 06) in the market for books aiming to introduce
law students to the key concepts in lawand economics and to provide a platform
for further research by guiding them through the extensive secondary literature.
While Ogus’ book proceeds by way of discussing the law and then o¡ering an
economic analysis of it,Veljanovski’s book sets out a number of aspects of eco-
nomic theory and then sets out to illustrate the way in which they operate in a
legal context.
Economic Principles of Law opens with an introduction to the history of law and
economics, and the work of Coase, Calabresi and Posner in particular. Chapter
two is the ¢rst substantial chapter and sets out ‘the economic approach’, which is
de¢ned as ‘the application ofeco nomictheory ^ mostly price theory and statistical
methods ^ to examine the formation, structure, processes and impact of the law
and legal institutions.’ (19) Chapters three to six thenexamine the lawof property,
contract, tort and crime through the lens of the economic approach. Particular
reference is paid to leading English cases, which serves to distinguish the book
from many others in the ¢eld, which is dominated by economic analysis of
American laws.
The main criticismwhich can be levelled at this book is a methodological one.
It applies the tenets of neoclassical economics to law, vi ewing law as a system of
incentives which alters behaviour and outcomes. Perhaps regrettably, given that
the law is charged with dealing with real-world complexity and all too frequent
failures of rationality, Veljanovski rejects the behavioural law and economics
approach on the basis that ‘if economic rationality is abandoned then economics
loses much of its predictive and explanatory power and can easily collapse into a
descriptive approach less li kely to produce genuine insight s.’ (21) The author’s
only concession to recent research in this area is briefconsideration of thee ndow-
ment e¡ect, and he accommodates it within his neoclassical analysis simply by
n
Universityof Essex.
Reviews
499
r2008 The Authors.Journal Compilation r20 08The Modern Law Review Limited.
(2008) 71(3) 490^504
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