Title
Colonization and the Rule of Law: Comparing the effectiveness of common law and civil law countries
DOI
10.1007/s10602-004-7766-7
Abstract
The rule of law is one of the most important components of any explanation of cross-national differences in economic well-being. But what leads to better rule of law in a country? Using an institutional approach this paper probes the effect of legal systems in influencing the rule of law. There has long been speculation that the countries adopting English common law are better at providing legal dispute resolution than those adopting the continental forms of civil law. That speculative assessment is found to be true only in those countries that have been colonized, further analysis demonstrates that it is the effectiveness of the protection of property rights in common law systems rather than the institutions themselves that influence rule of law statistics. The paper calls for a more refined examination of legal systems which takes into consideration whether law is organically developed or transplanted.
Document Type
Post-print Article
Publication Date
2004
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
The definitive version is available at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10602-004-7766-7
DOI: 10.1007/s10602-004-7766-7
Full Citation:
Joireman, Sandra F. "Colonization and the Rule of Law: Comparing the Effectiveness of Common Law and Civil Law Countries." Constitutional Political Economy 15, no. 4 (2004): 315-338. doi:10.1007/s10602-004-7766-7.
Recommended Citation
Joireman, Sandra F., "Colonization and the Rule of Law: Comparing the effectiveness of common law and civil law countries" (2004). Political Science Faculty Publications. 64.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/polisci-faculty-publications/64