The Rule of Law

Twenty years ago, the path to prosperity seemed simple, for countries emerging from socialism: privatize, deregulate and cut taxes. That was then. Nowadays, things seem a bit more complicated, for what we had forgotten was the need for the stable institutions of prosperity and growth referred to compendiously as the rule of law. These include, importantly, an independent judiciary that enforces laws impartially, where contracts are enforced and property rights respected, where non-criminals are not prosecuted, and the law is not used as a technique of oppression or blackmail. We’ll look at what happens when countries do not adhere to the rule of law, and then ask how well the rule of law is respected in the United States.

Why Law Matters	Robert Cooter	UC-Berkeley Law
The Rule of Law in Developing Countries	Robert Cooter
The Rule of Law in the U.S.	Ronald Cass	Center for the Rule of Law
Sanctity of Contract	Ronald Cass
Business Freedom	Ronald Cass
Prosecutorial Discretion	Jeffrey Parker	George Mason Law

Robert D. Cooter is Herman F. Selvin Professor at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. He is a former president of the American Law & Economics Association and a co-author of Law & Economics, a widely translated textbook. Jeffrey S. Parker is the former deputy chief counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Ronald A. Cass is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law and a former vice-chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission.