Economics of Legal History

Daniel Klerman recently published an edited collection, Economics of Legal History (Elgar, 2015), which includes influential pieces on the history of natural resources law, including Harold Demsetz's "Toward a Theory of Property Rights", Robert Ellickson's "A Hypothesis of Wealth-Maximizing Norms: Evidence from the Whaling Industry".

The publisher's description:

Generations of law and economics scholars have been fascinated by history, seeing in its institutions and laws a vast database for illustrating their theories. Equally, historians have seen economic analysis as a helpful tool with which to analyze legal institutions. As a result a vibrant field has emerged in which people trained in law, economics, history and political science have all made significant contributions. This volume brings together the most important works examining legal history from an economic perspective. An original introduction by the editor provides a useful roadmap to the field.