Law and Markets in United States History

The eminent legal scholar James Willard Hurst’s sociological analysis of the relation between law and private business in relation to society at largeHurst argues that law and business support the same goals of efficiency and humanity, and examines their interrelationship toward that end in terms of ethical issues related to public policy, money supply, the impact of incremental change, inflation and deflation, monopoly and competition, and other economic factors. Based on Hurst’s lectures at TheUniversity of Wisconsin in April, 1981.James Willard Hurst [1910-1997] is widely recognized as the father of modern American legal history. He taught at University of Wisconsin Law School. A prolific scholar and writer, Hurst’s major works include The Growth of American Law: The Law Makers (1950), Law and The Conditions of Freedom in The Nineteenth-century United States (1956), Law and Economic Growth: The Legal History of the Wisconsin Lumber Industry 1835-1916 (1964), Law and Social Process in U.S. History (1960) and Law and Social Order in the United States (1977). CONTENTSIntroduction: The Market, the Law, and Challenges of ScarcityChapter 1 Law and the Constitution of the MarketChapter 2 The Market in Social ContextChapter 3 Bargaining through Law and through MarketsNotesSources CitedIndex