In a concise, compelling argument, one of the founders and most influential advocates of the law and economics movement divides the subject into two separate areas, which he identifies with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The first, Benthamite, strain, “economic analysis of law,” examines the legal system in the light of economic theory and shows how economics might render law more effective. The second strain, law and economics, gives equal status to law, and explores how the more realistic, less theoretical discipline of law can lead to improvements in economic theory. It is the latter approach that Judge Calabresi advocates, in a series of eloquent, thoughtful essays that will appeal to students and scholars alike.

Calabresi complains that we are "choking on statutes" and proposes a restoration of the courts to their common law function. From a series of lectures given by Calabresi as part of The Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures delivered at Harvard Law School in March 1977. "In his most recent publication, A Common Law for the Age of Statutes, based on the Oliver Wendell Holmes lectures he delivered at Harvard in March of 1977, Professor Calabresi has brought his ample juristic talents to bear on a foundational problem of the legal and democratic process. He has produced a monograph that in its quality, timeliness and provocativeness is likely to stand alongside the seminal works of Ronald Dworkin and Grant Gilmore." --Allan C. Hutchinson and Derek Morgan, 82 Columbia Law Review (1982) 1752. GUIDO CALABRESI [b. 1932] is Sterling Emeritus Professor of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He was Dean of Yale Law School from 1985-1994 and became a United States Circuit Judge in 1994. He is also the author of The Costs of Accidents (1970), Tragic Choices (1978) and Ideals, Beliefs, Attitudes, and the Law (1985).

Accident law is currently under review throughout the United States, and indeed the world, as present systems prove increasingly inadequate to handle the mounting costs of automobile accidents. In this pioneering work, Guido Calabresi develops a framework for evaluating different systems of accident law. Defining the goal of accident law as the maximum reduction of accident and accident avoidance costs that can be achieved fairly, he examines ten political and economic choices implied in various approaches to reducing these costs. Calabresi then considers two fundamental problems all systems of accident law must face: who should be held responsible for accident costs, and how should they be valued? He analyzes the fault-insurance system now widely used and finds it wanting on grounds both of cost reduction objectives and fairness. In conclusion, he discusses recent proposals for reform of the law, points out questions they raise, and ends by indicating the two he thinks most likely to prevail and the fundamental conflict between them. “Calabresi’s book is most significant for its first-rate combination of modern economic analysis and legal policy. The methodology and underlying principles extend far beyond the particular subject matter of accident law to many other legal areas that could benefit from economic analysis. In turn, some economic analyses may become the richer for the discussion in this book. It is truly one of those rare important volumes.”—Gerald M Meier

This book offers a general theoretical account of how societies cope with decisions which they regard as tragic.

Guido Calabresi es un jurista fundamental en la reconstrucción del influyente movimiento del Law & Economics, no solo por su contribución en el plano teórico, sino por su claridad y su propia postura reflexiva y crítica al interior del movimiento. Su notable influencia se debe a su búsqueda de superar la visión más simplista del Análisis Económico del Derecho, para llegar más bien a un intercambio constante entre ambas disciplinas para que las dos cumplan con su finalidad. Este libro reúne una serie de trabajos del autor que ayudan a tener una primera aproximación a su trabajo. Su lectura conjunta no es más que una invitación al lector a aventurarse en el resto de su importante obra, ya que, como menciona Alfredo Bullard en la nota a esta segunda edición, el trabajo de Guido Calabresi es como una catedral: "eterna y trascendente". GUIDO CALABRESI recibió su licenciatura en Ciencias, summa cum laude, de la Universidad de Yale en 1953, una licenciatura en Humanidades con Honores de Primera Clase de Magdalen College de la Universidad de Oxford en 1955, una licenciatura en Leyes, magna cum laude, en 1958 de la Escuela de Leyes de Yale, y una maestría en Política, Filosofía y Economía por la Universidad de Oxford en 1959. Becario Rodhes y miembro de Phi Beta Kappa y de la orden de la Cofia. Además, el juez Calabresi se desempeñó como Director de Edición del Yale Law Journal los años 1957 y 1958, mientras que se graduaba en el primer lugar de su clase de la Escuela de Leyes. Ha sido premiado con cuarenta grados honoríficos de universidades de los Estados Unidos y el extranjero, es autor de cuatro libros y más de un centenar de artículos jurídicos. El profesor Calbresi ha sido Decano de la Escuela de Leyes de la Universidad de Yale, donde también fue nombrado Sterling Professor y Professorial Lecturer. Actualmente es profesor emérito en la Facultad de derecho de Yale. También es miembro del Colegio de abogados de Connecticut y, de 1971 a 1975, fue concejal de la ciudad de Woodbridge, Connecticut.