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American Civil Law Origins: Implications for State Constitutions

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  • Daniel Berkowitz

Abstract

We examine the effect of initial legal traditions on constitutional stability in the American states. Ten states were initially settled by France, Spain, or Mexico and had developed civil law legal systems at the time of American acquisition. Although Louisiana retained civil law, the remaining nine adopted common law. Controlling for contemporaneous and initial conditions, civil law states have substantially higher levels of constitutional instability at the end of the twentieth century. We speculate that this effect is attributable to instability in property rights caused by the change in national governments and to the legacy of the civil law system. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Berkowitz, 2005. "American Civil Law Origins: Implications for State Constitutions," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 7(1), pages 62-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:7:y:2005:i:1:p:62-84
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahi007
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    Cited by:

    1. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2010. "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 163-188, Spring.
    2. Nathan Nunn, 2009. "The Importance of History for Economic Development," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 65-92, May.
    3. Daniel Berkowitz & Karen Clay, 2007. "Legal Origins and the Evolution of Institutions: Evidence from American State Courts," Working Paper 320, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Jun 2007.
    4. Ben-Bassat, Avi & Dahan, Momi, 2008. "Social rights in the constitution and in practice," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 103-119, March.
    5. Randall Morck & Lloyd Steier, 2005. "The Global History of Corporate Governance: An Introduction," NBER Chapters, in: A History of Corporate Governance around the World: Family Business Groups to Professional Managers, pages 1-64, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Beck, T.H.L., 2010. "Legal Institutions and Economic Development," Other publications TiSEM 8aa07b48-ce55-4cf6-8754-7, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Damm, Jason & McNulty, James E., 2022. "Attorney discipline, the quality of legal systems and economic growth within the United States," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 516-533.
    8. Chad Turner & Robert Tamura & Sean Mulholland, 2013. "How important are human capital, physical capital and total factor productivity for determining state economic growth in the United States, 1840–2000?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 319-371, December.
    9. Ben-Bassat Avi & Dahan Momi, 2016. "Constitutional Commitment to Social Security and Welfare Policy," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 165-201, March.
    10. Vania Licio, 2021. "When History Leaves a Mark: A New Measure of Roman Roads," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 7(1), pages 1-35, March.
    11. Du, Julan & Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang, 2012. "Contracting institutions and vertical integration: Evidence from China’s manufacturing firms," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 89-107.
    12. Andrei Shleifer & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Rafael La Porta, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 285-332, June.
    13. Grosjean, Pauline, 2011. "The institutional legacy of the Ottoman Empire: Islamic rule and financial development in South Eastern Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-16, March.
    14. Richard A. Posner, 2006. "A Review of Steven Shavell's Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 405-414, June.
    15. Ryan H Murphy, 2022. "The constitution of ambiguity: The effects of constitutions on economic freedom," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 240-258, June.
    16. David Ahnen & Peter T, Calcagno, 2019. "Constitutions and Social Trust: An Analysis of the US States," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 34(Fall 2019), pages 11-33.

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