Study On The Thoughts Of The Law And Economics

The Law and Economics, as an independent interdiscipline, rose in the UnitedStates in the1960s. After that, by virtue of its unique analysis method, innovativeperspective and practical value, the Law and Economics has become as influential asthree traditional law schools in the West--Natural Law, Analytical-PositivistJurisprudence, Sociological Jurisprudence. The analysis method of the Law andEconomics has been widely used in western developed countries and internationalorganizations; in our country, it has also attracted the attention of a growing number ofscholars, and has begun to be applied in formulating the national policy. The domesticstudy in the Law and Economics has achieved many significant results, but these aremainly concentrated in the application of the Law and Economics in the department law,and there is less research in its basic theory. In the basis of existing research results ofChinese scholars, this paper conducts in-depth study and research in the basic theory ofthe Law and Economics, including the theoretical origins, theory evolution,methodological basis and theoretical value.The main text of this paper consists of three parts：The first part of the main text traces the theoretical origins of the Law andEconomics and investigates its theory evolution. Its development history is divided intothree stages in this paper: the early history of the fusion of law and economics, thefounding period of the Law and Economics and expansion period of the Law andEconomics. As for the early history of the fusion of law and economics, this paperintroduces the impacts of economics on the law in two famous codes in the West—Lawof Twelve Tables and Salic Law; in addition, it introduces the thoughts of famousscholars such as Montesquieu, Beccaria, Bentham, Adam Smith, Karl Marx on theintegration of law and economics. As for its founding period, this paper focuses on thecreation background and theoretical system of the Institutional Law and Economics, andintroduces the academic thoughts of its representatives Torstein Veblen and JohnCommons. As for the expansion period of the Law and Economics, this paper comparesthe differences between the old and the new Chicago Law and Economics in theiracademic positions and analyzes the causes; in addition, it introduces the representativesof the old Chicago Law and Economics--Henry Simons and Aaron Director and themain representatives of the new Chicago Law and Economic--Ronald Coase and Richard Posner, and analyzes their academic ideas and theoretical creations.The second part of the main text compares and analyzes the research methodologyof the Law and Economics in detail. This paper examines three parts of its researchmethodology: the logical starting point ("Rational Choice" theory), the philosophicalbasis (Positivism and Normativism) and the academic positions (Individualism andHolism).The third part of the main text illustrates the main contributions and drawbacks ofthe Law and Economics.