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Institutions matter both for long-term economic evolution as well as for more short-termed economic performance. The law is particularly important in shaping the institutional framework for economic activities. This paper gives an overview of typical evolutionary explanations of legal change, i.e. the generation and dissemination of legal innovations over time. The main actors, the key determinants, and the central mechanisms are identified. In addition to approaches which deal primarily with statutory respectively judge-made legal change, the concept of legal paradigms and path dependence, the co-evolution of law and technology and the impact of institutional competition on legal change are discussed.

The ancient Athenians regarded their ability to modify their laws as a fundamentally democratic trait; indeed, the faculty of "pragmatic innovation" was well known throughout the Greek world and was widely viewed as a key advantage that Athens had over its rival, Sparta. The Athenian commitment to legal change endured despite disastrous consequences at the end of the fifth century, a comprehensive revision of the laws, and the complication of legal procedure in the fourth century. In an apparent paradox, however, the Athenians also used "entrenchment clauses" to make certain laws immutable. Through analysis of entrenched laws and decrees, it is shown that the innovativeness that made Athens enviable also made it a difficult ally; entrenchment enabled the Athenians to make its commitments more credible. Although today entrenchment is typically used to protect crucial constitutional provisions, such as rights, in the ancient world it served a strategic purpose.

A response to Linda S. Bishai's "Intervention in Law and Politics" & Jan Klabbers's "Separating Law and Politics: A Comment" (2001). Contrary to Bishai's interpretation of the Danish Instit of International Affairs' (DUPI) (1999) examination of humanitarian intervention as an attempt to preserve international law from politics, it is contended that the DUPI's document was designed to think about the legal & political practices connected to humanitarian intervention efforts. An overview of the DUPI's argument concerning the role & legitimacy of humanitarian intervention in third-party states is subsequently provided, emphasizing the agency's identification of four legal-political strategies for justifying intervening efforts. Bishai's & Klabbers' respective assertions that adopting a unified perspective toward humanitarian intervention is impossible within the context of international law are addressed. A three-part explanation for the DUPI's theoretical decision to differentiate legal & political arguments for humanitarian intervention is then provided. Bishai's & Klabbers' respective suggestions that separating legal & political perspectives constitutes a nonpolitical move is ultimately rejected. 8 References. J. W. Parker

Explores the relationship between law, privatization, & democratization in the legal transition of Eastern Europe away from state-socialist legality. Following a sociohistorical review of the post-1989 reforms, the terms of state-socialist legality imposed by the former USSR in the postwar era are outlined. Given the high degree of continuity in constitutions, statutes, & judges since the state collapses of 1989, it is difficult to assess whether the legal system can even be delinked from the political system. The primacy of the political sphere is still the most important legacy of postcommunist legal regimes because of the current state of economic emergency that precludes the development of democratic legal culture. East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, & Hungary are then placed in a comparative-historical framework, emphasizing significant continuity between pre- & post-1989 legal institutions & personnel. What is necessary is a program for legal & judicial reform that addresses cultural & ideological problems in the legal construction of Eastern Europe both before & after upheavals of 1989. 137 References. J. Cowie