Civil Court Procedures, Economics Of

Since the publication in the early 1970s of articles by Professors William Landes, Richard Posner (now Judge Posner), and John Gould, the use of economics to analyze civil procedure issues has grown in popularity, along with interest in law and economics more generally. An economic analysis aims to maximize social benefit net of social cost. The social benefit of procedure lies in reducing the expected cost of outcome error, including erroneous judgments and skewed settlements. Outcome error is costly because it undermines the deterrent function of the substantive law. The social cost of procedure includes the additional investment parties make to use the procedure and the additional amount the public spends to finance a court system offering expanded procedural opportunities. From an economic point of ...