ABSTRACT
This paper treats latent conflict and not open concord as the key feature of human society. Harold Berman (1983) presented a magisterial survey of the development of the western legal tradition between approximately 1100 and 1900, the central feature of which was the emergence of polycentric legal arrangements and processes where conflicts are resolved within an environment where people could choose among venues for pursuing their efforts to resolve conflicts. Political offices were also involved in resolving (and also creating) conflicts, but most such effort occurred through private offices. Around the start of the 20th century, political offices began to expand their presence in both creating and resolving conflicts. The key feature of this paper is its effort to set conflict inside a theory of society and the institutional arrangements through which conflict is governed.
Wagner, Richard E, Private law and public law within a theory of society (March 22, 2024), GMU Working Paper in Economics No 24-09.
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