Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
The Independent Review
Volume
23
Issue
2
Publisher
Independent Institute
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Journal Article Version
Version of Record
First Page
209
Last Page
226
Abstract
Gordon Tullock, trained in the law at the University of Chicago, was an implacable critic of the common law, which originated in England centuries ago and was transplanted to the United States, Canada, Australia, and other English-speaking nations during colonial times.1 Tullock generally favored legal regimes based on civil law or "Roman civil law," the latter being the phrase used by John Henry Merryman and Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo ([1969] 2007) to solve a terminological problem in the comparative legal studies literature.2 Although applications of that regime differ from place to place and have evolved over time (as, of course, has the common law), Tullock's preference is shared by most of the rest of the world, including Europe, many parts of Asia and Africa, all of Latin America, and "a few enclaves in the common law world (Louisiana, Quebec, and Puerto Rico)" (Merryman and Pérez-Perdomo [1969] 2007, 3).3 The civil-law tradition can eb traced to Rome, Germany, and France; the latter nation's Napoleonic Code of 1804 is its archetype (Merryman and Pérez-Perdomo [1969] 2007, 10).4
Recommended Citation
Shughart, William F. II, "Gordon Tullock's Critique of the Common Law" (2018). Economics and Finance Faculty Publications. Paper 962.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/econ_facpubs/962
