Un’analisi giuridica dell’economia: John R Commons e i Legal Foundations of Capitalism

Legal Foundations of Capitalism by John Roger Commons (1924) challenges both orthodox theories ofeconomics and mainstream legal doctrines, at a time when the social sciences were oriented towards newepistemological approaches.This essay shows how Common’s work overruled the assumptions of that movement which in the 20th centurybecame known as Law and Economics. It is not an attempt to extend economic analysis to the study of law.Instead, it is aimed at the application of legal concepts, terms and definitions to economics, and at makingeconomic phenomena coincide with juridicial ones. The end result is the challenge of both neoclassicaleconomics and of traditional legal theories.