The Legal Analyst – A Toolkit for Thinking about the Law

un petit point sur les outils de l'analyse économique du droit et du behavioral law and economics. Rien de véritablement neuf dans cet ouvrage. La plupart des éléments a déjà été présenté par Sunstein notamment mais aussi par Shavell ou Posner. L'ensemble permet tout de même une synthèse intéressante.

The author says he intends his book to be of interest to "law students, lawyers, scholars, and anyone else with an interest in the legal system". The pity is that most people are unaware of the impact of the legal system and its impact on their daily lives. A book like "The Legal Analyst", unfortunately, is not for the average citizen. It took me months of nibbling, reading a bit at a time, to get through these fascinating, but densely written book. "The Legal Analyst" is excellent: informative, learned and challenging, all at the same time. The alternative title considered was "Thinking Like a Law Professor" and that might have been more appropriate. The value of the book is that instead of discussing rules as so many law texts do, Professor Farnsworth introduces us here - quite effectively - to tools for thinking about the law. I am not a lawyer, but lawyers are my clientele and I play a role in litigation as an expert witness and consultant. I am also an American who is very concerned about the direction of the nation and the fate of its Constitution, the very document that makes us a nation of laws. Professor Farnsworth is a gentle guide. He avoids footnotes. He doesn't use dry academic language. He is, matter of fact, pretty straightforward. But the subject matter itself, while always challenging, is sometimes dry. There are thirty chapters on the tools of legal thought, prefaced by a introduction that poses an interesting challenge. If a robber enters a bank, takes customer hostage and threatens to kill a hostage if he doesn't get $5,000, should the bank be held liable when the robber gets no money and kills the hostage? (I'm not going to tell.) On the whole, only the truly committed will make it through this book. It is not because of any lack of quality or scholarship: it is simply a difficult read. Those who do complete the trek will be rewarded with an expanded knowledge of the logic of the law. I do wish Professor Farnsworth would consider writing a version of "The Legal Analyst" for the average person - such a book is truly needed. Jerry

This is just what I needed to stimulate me and get me thinking about the law before I start studying law this autumn. Law Professor Ward Farnsworth realised that there isn’t as much emphasis in law schools on teaching processes for thinking about and analysing legal matters as there should be. He attempts to address that balance with this fantastic book.

This book is very interesting

Gives a great description into the concepts of how and why different arguments in law are made and makes you think about scenarios in many different ways. Gives relavent and exemplary examples to support theories and topics discussed. This book is great for all kinds of people (lawyers, law students, managers, and general public) Vocabulary is not complicated and can be understood by most people. Very interesting read but also manages to not be boring.