The discipline of law and economics has earned a reputation for developing plausible and empirically testable theories on the social functions and the impact of legal institutions. Property rights are a field in which this has been very successful. In this book, economic property rights theories are applied to case law in order to examine the practice and solution of real life conflicts. The author examines the economic problems which are dealt with in these cases and evaluate the courts’ decisions from an economic angle.

Cases are examined from across the UK, the US, Germany, Belgium and Canada to allow international comparisons to be made. These comparisons reveal that, regardless of the legal system, many legal issues have similar economic roots and therefore similar models of economic analysis can be applied. The analysis of these cases also shows that the discipline of law and economics is not only successful in developing explanatory models but also useful to generate better considerations and solutions for legal conflicts in individual cases.

This book aims to bridge the gap between the academic and professional literature and demonstrate the benefits of the economic analysis of property rights cases to all those who are interested in law and economics.