Certainty, Common Law, and Statutory Law: Todd Zywicki of Scalia Law

The Answer Is Transaction Costs

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Todd Zywicky, professor at George Mason's Scalia Law School, challenges some conventional legal doctrine, taking up the views of Bruno Leone and Friedrich Hayek. What if the legal world has underestimated the power of spontaneous order? Todd's intellectual journey sheds light on how these groundbreaking ideas contrast sharply with the dominant constructivist views shaping contemporary legal thought.
Todd offers perspectives on the role of intuition and reasonableness in the courtroom, inspired by the legacies of Leone and Hayek. Uncover the hidden parallels between market dynamics and legal systems, emphasizing the fluidity of Roman law as a process of discovery.
Links:
Todd Zywicki's Faculty Page
Zywicki's published work on Leoni, and the Common Law

• The Rise and Fall of Efficiency in the Common Law: A Supply-Side Analysis, 97 NORTHWESTERN L. REV. 1551 (2003).
• Common Law and Economic Efficiency (with Edward Stringham), in 7 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LAW AND ECONOMICS: THE PRODUCTION OF LEGAL RULES (2d ed., Francesco Parisi, ed., 2012).
• Bruno Leoni's Legacy and Continued Relevance, 30(1) J. OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE 131-41 (2015).
• Austrian Law and Economics and Efficiency in the Common Law (with Edward Stringham), in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON AUSTRIAN LAW AND ECONOMICS 192 (Todd J. Zywicki and Peter J. Boettke, eds. 2017).

The Loper Bright SCOTUS Decision (And the Gorsuch concurrence!)

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [email protected] !

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz

Chapters

1. The Role of Transaction Costs (00:00:00)

2. The Role of Legal Precedent (00:16:23)

3. The Concept of Discovery in Law (00:20:32)

4. The Evolution of Common Law (00:24:51)

5. The Flexibility of Legal Systems (00:33:59)

6. The Uncertainty of Legal Precedent (00:43:03)

7. Book Club Announcement (00:52:33)