Evolution of Law: Interplay Between Private and Public Rule-making - A New Institutional Economics-analysis

Abstract

Whereas the New Institutional Economics (NIE) is interested in the process of institution- building and the evolution of institutions, legal scholars study law-making processes and their variations. The evolution of institutions and law-making are thus overlapping, but not identical, processes. This paper focuses on analysing a certain aspect of the evolution of law, namely the interplay between private and public law-making processes. The article aims to introduce some basic ideas and concepts regarding the complex interplay between private and public rule- making as part of the process of the evolution of law, albeit from a NIE-perspective. It is argued that constitutional economics is a normative concept that has the capacity to provide a better understanding of the interplay between private and public rule-making.