Law's Limits Rule of Law and the Supply and Demand of Rights

What law is can be determined by the character of the institutions that make, interpret and enforce law. The interaction of these institutions moulds the supply of, and demand for, law. Focusing on this interaction in the context of US property rights law and the debates about private property and the rule of law, Komesar paints an unconventional picture of law and rights shifting and cycling as systemic factors, such as increasing numbers and complexity. This strain produces tough institutional choices and unexpected combinations of goals and institutions. It also frustrates the hopes for courts, rights and law embodied in notions such as the rule of law and constitutionalism. Although there may be an important role for law, rights and courts both in the US and abroad, it cannot be easily defined. This 2002 book proposes a way to define that role and to reform legal education and legal analysis.

Preface; Part I. The Basic Framework: 1. Supply and demand; 2. The spectrum of rights; 3. The supply side - the little engine of law and rights; Part II. Land Use and Rights: 4. Zoning and its discontents - political malfunction and the demand for rights; 5. Just compensation - the problems of pricing; 6. High stakes players and hidden markets; Part III. Law's Laws: 7. Theories of property: from Coase to communitarianism; 8. Numbers, complexity and the rule of law; 9. Changes; References; Index.

Focusing on the interaction of law-making, law-interpreting, and law-enforcing institutions as these bear on US property rights law and debates about private property and the rule of law, in this 2002 book Komesar paints an unconventional picture of law, rights shifting and cycling as systemic factors.