Selling and abandoning legal rights

Keith N. Hylton

International Review of Law and Economics, 2024, vol. 80, issue C

Abstract: Legal rights impose concomitant legal burdens. This paper considers the valuation and disposition of legal rights, and legal burdens, when courts cannot be relied upon to perfectly enforce rights. Because courts do not perfectly enforce rights, victims suffer some loss in the value of their rights depending on the degree of underenforcement. The welfare implications of trading away and abandoning rights are examined. Victims do not necessarily trade away rights when and only when such trade is socially desirable. Relatively pessimistic victims (who believe their rights are weaker than injurers do) trade away rights too cheaply. Extremely pessimistic victims abandon their rights. Implications for the enforceability of waivers, discrimination in courts, and legal ethics are discussed.

Keywords: Legal rights; Legal burdens; Waiver; Discrimination; Lawyer conflicts of interest; Optimal enforcement of rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K10 K11 K12 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:80:y:2024:i:c:s0144818824000395

DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2024.106219

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