ABSTRACT
Commons occupies a special position in institutionalism for his commitment to understanding the legal embedding of American capitalism and the relationship between the legal and economic orders. The article analyzes Commons’ approach to law and characterizes his levels of analysis. Commons, notably in Legal Foundations of Capitalism, read certain legal writings from which he drew lessons for his own analysis, in a double movement of influence and appropriation. He drew on Hohfeld’s juridical matrix and some of his critics to develop his theory of transactions.
Thierry Kirat, Legal Theory in John R Commons’ Legal Foundations of Capitalism. Paper prepared for the book edited by Véronique Dutraive and Takayuki Nakahara. This version: 12 February 2025, ffhalshs04941795f.
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