Economics and Philosophy in Private Law Theory

The 10th MetaLawEcon workshop will focus on recent developments in theoretical work on private law.

Where does the debate about the role of economics and philosophy in private law scholarship stand now and where should it go? 

More specific issues to discuss include the following:

·       What do, and should, private law theories try to achieve? What are the epistemic and normative virtues private law scholarship should aspire to?

·       What are the explananda of private law theory: case outcomes, judicial behaviour, legal reasoning, doctrines, structures, institutions, ideological constructs?

·       In what respects are economic theories superior to philosophical accounts or vice versa? Is it possible, and desirable to combine or integrate these rival theories, “vertically” or “horizontally”?

·       What is private law for? Does doctrinal legal scholarship provide credible alternative accounts of (areas of) private law that are neither “economic” nor “philosophical”?

·       What is the optimal level of generality in private law theory? Given the cultural diversity and temporal variation in law, how should scholarship go beyond a particular jurisdiction at a particular moment in time? Can philosophy reveal commonalities behind doctrinal diversity? Can economics?

·       What is private about private law? In what sense are publicly enforceable interpersonal obligations private? If private law qua law is public, hence political, is there any room for recognising a distinctly private law at all?

These and related questions shall be discussed at an interdisciplinary workshop at the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, 5-6 July 2019. A call for paper is out. A limited number of non-presenting participants are accepted.