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'Capacitas': Contract Law and the Institutional Preconditions of a Market Economy

Simon Deakin

Working Papers from Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge

Abstract: Capacity may be defined as a status conferred by law for the purpose of empowering persons to participate in the operations of a market economy. This paper argues that because of the confining influence of the classical private law of the nineteenth century, we currently lack a convincing theory of the role of law in enhancing and protecting the substantive contractual capacity of market agents, a notion which resembles the economic concept of 'capability' as developed by Amartya Sen. Re-examining the legal notion of capacity from the perspective of Sen's 'capability approach' is part of a process of understanding the preconditions for a sustainable market order under modern conditions.

Keywords: contract law; capacity; capability approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K12 K31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-hpe, nep-law and nep-reg
Note: PRO-2
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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