The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860.

Intro -- Contents -- Introduction -- I. The Emergence of an Instrumental Conception of Law -- II. The Transformation in the Conception of Property -- III. Subsidization of Economic Growth through the Legal System -- IV. Competition and Economic Development -- V. The Relation between the Bar and Commercial Interests -- VI. The Triumph of Contract -- The Equitable Conception of Contract in the Eighteenth Century -- The Rise of a Market Economy and the Development of the Will Theory of Contract -- Custom and Contract -- Tort and Contract -- VII. The Development of Commercial Law -- The Rise of Negotiability -- The Law of Insurance: The Development of Actuarial Conceptions of Risk -- Usury -- Swift v. Tyson: The Rise of a General Commercial Law -- VIII. The Rise of Legal Formalism -- Notes -- Index.

In a remarkable book based on prodigious research, Horwitz offers a sweeping overview of the emergence of a national legal system from English and colonial antecedents. He treats the evolution of common law as intellectual history and demonstrates how shifting views of private law became a dynamic element in the economic growth of the U.S.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.