1. Should We Abolish the Criminal Law?

2. Modern Legal System is Redundant
Criminal law and tort law do the same thing in different ways
Do we need both?

3. Two Questions Do we need criminal law Are we better off without it?
Are there problems which it solves
And a pure tort system cannot?
Are we better off without it?

4. Problems Fraudulent Prosecution Crime puts other people in fear
Victim cannot afford a lawyer
Offender is judgment proof
So no penalty and no deterrence
And no incentive to go after him
Fraudulent Prosecution

5. Advantages to Replacing Crime with Tort
Socialism works poorly
Division of powers
If the Crown controls prosecution
The King’s friends can get away with murder

6. Other Legally Interesting Issues
Does the current sorting of offenses into crime or tort make sense?
Do the differences in the legal rules of the two systems make sense?
See Law’s Order for a discussion of those questions
Or take my law and econ course next semester

7. For more on all of this, see
Law’s Order, webbed on my site: Chapter 18
Legal Systems Very Different From Ours:
Draft webbed on my site
Course next semester
Articles on my site
"Private Creation and Enforcement of Law -- A Historical Case.” JLS
"Efficient Institutions for the Private Enforcement of Law." JLS
"Making Sense of English Law Enforcement in the Eighteenth Century,"
"Why Not Hang Them All: The Virtues of Inefficient Punishment, JPE
My Web Site: