The Jurisprudential Niche Occupied by Law and Economics

This paper describes the jurisprudential niche occupied by the several schools of thought that comprise the field of Law and Economics in present-day legal scholarship. It begins by providing a brief history of law in the U.S.; it highlights the void left in law by the Legal Realists; it then very briefly explores some of the theories that attempted to fill that void including critical legal studies, feminist jurisprudence, and critical race theory. The paper then turns to its main focus - describing the several schools of thought that comprise the field of Law and Economics that has also helped fill the void. These include the Chicago approach to law and economics, public choice theory, institutional law and economics, the new institutional economics, social norms and law and economics, the New Haven school, and Austrian law and economics