The economics of harmonising European law

Book abstract:

This book provides a legal and economic analysis of the challenges arising from the shifts in power from a national level to European and regional levels. The book analyses the process of harmonisation and assesses whether a uniform legal framework should be promoted. Both public and private law are covered as well as applied and theoretical issues. The contents of the book have evolved from a conference in May 2000 at the University of Corsica under the auspices of the European Association of Law and Economics.

The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first argues that the academic discussion on regulatory competition has evolved to a point where it is possible to draw an economic decision framework for policymakers. The second chapter goes on to analyse whether it is possible to predict the evolution of parts of national European private law systems towards a uniform private law. Chapter three provides an economic interpretation of legal culture followed by analysis of how appropriate it is to treat legal culture as a natural monopoly. Chapter four shows that legal innovation is linked to judicial empowerment and monopoly rights. This is followed by analysis of the competition between national and European courts. Chapter five examines the reorganisation of Corsican external public transport to illustrate the convergence of French and European approaches to public utility. Chapter six provides economic analysis of crime and criminal law followed by a chapter that questions whether there are economic reasons for the harmonisation of product safety standards and product liability. The next two chapters analyse the possibilities for the convergence of employment markets in the EU, and the need for interregional co-operation as governance becomes decentralised. Chapter ten provides a proposal of democratic decentralised jurisdictions as an alternative to the existing EU. The final two chapters look at enlargement from the viewpoint of economic theory of optimal legal areas followed by analysis of legal and economic principles for administrative law.

The authors are academics from European universities. The book is aimed at students and academics.