The American Illness : Essays on the Rule of Law

This provocative book brings together twenty-plus contributors from the fields of law, economics, and international relations to look at whether the U.S. legal system is contributing to the country’s long postwar decline. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the interactions between economics and the law—in such areas as corruption, business regulation, and federalism—and explains how our system works differently from the one in most countries, with contradictory and hard to understand business regulations, tort laws that vary from state to state, and surprising judicial interpretations of clearly written contracts. This imposes far heavier litigation costs on American companies and hampers economic growth. The rule of law in America / F.H. Buckley An exceptional nation? / F.H. Buckley Are Americans more litigious? Some quantitative evidence / J. Mark Ramseyer and Eric B. Rasmusen Lawyers as spam : congressional capture explains why U.S. lawyers exceed the optimum / Stephen P. Magee Regulation and litigation : complements or substitutes? / Eric Helland and Jonathan Klick Does product liability law make us safer? / W. Kip Viscusi The American illness and comparative civil procedure / Daniel Jutras The proportionality principle and the amount in controversy / Peter B. Rutledge The allocation of discovery costs and the foundations of modern procedure / Martin H. Redish Does increased litigation increase justice in a second-best world? / Jeremy Kidd and Todd J. Zywicki A tamer tort law : the Canada-U.S. divide / Michael Trebilcock and Paul-Erik Veel The expansion of modern U.S. tort law and its excesses / George L. Priest Regulation, taxation, and litigation / W. Kip Viscusi An English lawyer looks at American contract law / Michael Bridge Text versus context : the failure of the unitary law of contract interpretation / Robert E. Scott Exit and the American illness / Erin O'Hara O'Connor and Larry E. Ribstein The dramatic rise of consumer protection law / Joshua D. Wright and Eric Helland How American corporate and securities law drives business offshore / Stephen M. Bainbridge Corporate crime, overcriminalization, and the failure of American public morality / Jeffrey S. Parker The legacy of progressive thought : decline, not death, by a thousand cuts / Richard A. Epstein Overtaking / Robert Cooter and Aaron Edlin The rule of law and China / Francis Fukuyama Reversing / F.H. Buckley. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 11 Part 1: Introduction 15 1. The Rule of Law in America 15 Part 2: Relative Decline 55 2. An Exceptional Nation? 55 Part 3: Empirical Evidence 81 Are Americans More Litigious? Some Quantitative Evidence 81 Lawyers as Spam: Congressional Capture Explains Why U.S. Lawyers Exceed the Optimum 112 Regulation and Litigation: Complements or Substitutes? 130 Does Product Liability Law Make Us Safer? 149 The American Illness and Comparative Civil Procedure 171 The Proportionality Principle and the Amount in Controversy 187 The Allocation of Discovery Costs and the Foundations of Modern Procedure 213 Does Increased Litigation Increase Justice in a Second-Best World? 223 Part 5: Tort Law 241 A Tamer Tort Law: The Canada- U.S. Divide 241 The Expansion of Modern U.S. Tort Law and Its Excesses 261 Regulation, Taxation, and Litigation 282 Part 6: Contract Law 303 An English Lawyer Looks at American Contract Law 303 Text versus Context: The Failure of the Unitary Law of Contract Interpretation 324 Exit and the American Illness 348 The Dramatic Rise of Consumer Protection Law 373 Part 7: Corporate and Securities Law 393 How American Corporate and Securities Law Drives Business Offshore 393 Part 8: Criminal Law 419 Corporate Crime, Overcriminalization, and the Failure of American Public Morality 419 Part 9: How Nations Grow (Or Don’t) 447 The Legacy of Progressive Thought: Decline, Not Death, by a Thousand Cuts 447 Overtaking 484 The Rule of Law and China 499 Part 10: Changing Course 517 Reversing 517 Contributors 539 Index 543 Le site d'éditeur indique : "This provocative book brings together twenty-plus contributors from the fields of law, economics, and international relations to look at whether the U.S. legal system is contributing to the country's long postwar decline. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the interactions between economics and the law-in such areas as corruption, business regulation, and federalism-and explains how our system works differently from the one in most countries, with contradictory and hard to understand business regulations, tort laws that vary from state to state, and surprising judicial interpretations of clearly written contracts. This imposes far heavier litigation costs on American companies and hampers economic growth." "This provocative book brings together twenty-plus contributors from the fields of law, economics, and international relations to look at whether the U.S. legal system is contributing to the country's long postwar decline. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the interactions between economics and the law - in such areas as corruption, business regulation, and federalism - and explains how our system works differently from most countries', with contradictory and hard to understand business regulations, varying tort laws from state to state, and surprising judicial interpretations of clearly written contracts. This imposes far heavier litigation costs on American companies and hampers economic growth"--Unedited summary from book jacket Provides an overview of interactions between economics and law - in such areas as corruption, and federalism. This book explains how our system works differently from the one in most countries, with contradictory and hard to understand business regulations, tort laws that vary from state to state, and judicial interpretations of written contracts. This text brings together twenty-plus contributors from the fields of law, economics, and international relations to look at whether the US legal system is contributing to the country's long postwar decline