MPP_EACP Economic analysis of civil law

Faculty of Economics and Administration
Autumn 2018
Extent and Intensity
2/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
JUDr. Ing. Dušan Tříska, CSc. (lecturer), JUDr. Jindřiška Šedová, CSc. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
JUDr. Marcela Fryštenská, Ph.D.
Department of Law – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: JUDr. Jindřiška Šedová, CSc.
Supplier department: Department of Law – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Timetable
Tue 16:00–17:50 VT206
  • Timetable of Seminar Groups:
MPP_EACP/01: Tue 18:00–19:50 VT206, M. Fryštenská
Prerequisites
The course builds on the basic knowledge in the area of: basics of private law (New Civil Code). Students get the above mentioned knowledge in the following course: the Introduction to Law. Note:Students can meet all the demands placed on them within the scope of economic analysis of civil law without completed course the Introduction to Law provided intensive self-study under the guidance of a teacher .
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 17 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The main objective of the the Economic Analysis of Civil Law is to introduce the economic analysis of the law as a method of access to the law , which measure the costs and benefits. This can be used in the interpretation and application level. Another goal of this interdisciplinary subject is to show students that the method of costs and benefits is possible to use to analyze all the legal rules of the private sector. The course should contribute to a better understanding the economic context of the law and realization that behind many legal standards is economic thinking , or what can be called a common sense.
Learning outcomes
The student will not only have a broader legal consciousness after completing the subject, but he/she will also think in a broader social ties and contexts, he/she will make decisions within the legal framework, he/she will save time and money thanks to the knowledge of what rational decisions are being supported by a community treaty called Law. Student will be able to: - describe the history of economic analysis of law in the US and Europe; - explain what microeconomic theories can be used in creation, application and interpretation of legal rules; - use the method of economic analysis of the law for the application and interpretation of legal standards; - analyze the issue of externalities and clarify the need for their internalization (the transfer of externalities to the subject which created them); - analyze different forms of ownership from the perspective of efficiency and distribution; - analyze contractual law in terms of effectiveness; - to apply the Learned Hand rule in the tort law; - describe the family-law institutes from the economic point of view; - explain how labor law overcomes with greater or lesser successes labor market shortcomings such as the asymmetry of information of the contracting parties and the market power of the employer; - analyze the key supply and demand factors affecting the efficiency of the judicial system; - identify the economic thinking behind legal rules; - apply rational choice theory when choosing a dispute settlement method (litigation, mediation, arbitration, conferences with lawyers, etc.); - proceed efficiently when concluding contracts; - orientate at elementary level in selected legal rules of civil law (legal institutes of civil and procedural law, commercial law, labor law and family law); - use the methodology of economic analysis of the law for its own scientific work.
Syllabus
  • 1. WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF LAW? (Law and Economics, the difference in the thinking of lawyers and economists, positive and normative economic analysis of law, historical background, economic analysis of law in the Czech Republic) Students are introduced to the economic analysis of law as a method of interpretation and application of the law by using the criteria of cost-benefit and outlined the role of this method in the Czech legal system. Briefly describes the genesis of this method in the US and Europe, introduced the main representatives of the economic analysis of law and their major works. 2. RATIONALITY, VALUE, EFFICIENCY (Axiom "Man is a rational and wants to maximize his/her utility," the three pillars of rational decision-making, the theory of self-interest, controversy about rationality, efficiency - Pareto improvement, Pareto efficiency, Kaldor-Hicks criterion) Students become familiar with the terms rationality, utility, effectiveness and homo economicus as a rational man who is trying to maximize his/her benefit. 3. SOME ISSUES OF PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (The legal theory of property rights, the shift of resources to a more valuable benefit, transaction costs, a problem common grassland externalities, Coase theorem, ownership rights vs. the law of obligations) Students are explained the role of property rights in terms of efficient allocation of resources. In the course there are analyzed the effects of different forms of ownership on efficiency and distribution. Students are introduced into the issue of externalities and the need for their internalisation. Students get to know the Coase theorem. 4. CONTRACTUAL RIGHT AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (The concept of a contract, Why the parties conclude a contract?, freedom of contract, complete and incomplete contract and transaction costs, rebus sic stantibus, exchange of information, good faith and opportunism, productive and unproductive information, asymmetric information and good faith, business conditions, e-contracts a standard form contract, the price clause, liability for breach of contract, contractual penalty and economic analysis, critique of "efficient" breach of contract, warranty, enforcement of performance of the contract) Students are introduced to the legal norms and institutions of contract law in terms of efficiency. Students are introduced to the three rules applied by the courts in filling gaps in the contract: the rule of "the cheapest cost avoider", the rule "the cheapest Insurer" and the rule "the superior risk bearer". On specific institutes of the Contract law students in a broader context can see that behind many of them is economic analysis. 5. TORT LAW AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (The introduction to the tort law, subjective and objective responsibility in the economic context, bilateral responsibility, due care and Learned Handová rule limitation of damages, the market for lemons, compensation for pain and suffering, punitive damage in private law, the price of special popularity) Students are justified the role of the tort law through the application of the economic analysis of law. Students analyse and try to find the answer to the question: Who and what amount has to pay for the damage? Students are introduced the rule "the cheapest cost avoider" applicable for the liability for damage caused by the wrongful act and the rule Learned Hand. 6. SELECTED ASPECTS OF FAMILY LAW AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (The marriage market and the marriage contract, polygamy and monogamy, incomplete information and divorce, division of household work, § 688 and 689 of the Civil Code, women in the labor market, the demand for children, human capital and the state budget, altruism in the family and rotten kid theorem , maintenance obligations of parents towards children) Students discusse some family legal institutions such as marriage contract, divorce, adoption, alimony etc. from the perspective of economic analysis. Attention is paid to the marriage market position of women in the labor market, the division of household chores, the decline in the birth rate and increase in divorce rate. Students try to answer the question of whether state interventions in the family are effective. 7. LABOR LAW AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (Asymmetry of information and market power of employers, Svarc system, human capital vs. labor law protection from competition, performance of work tasks, objective and subjective responsibility, minimum wage, trade unions and efficiency, three views of anti-discrimination legislation in economic terms) Students are explained how labor law overcomes with greater or lesser success shortcomings of the labor market, such as information asymmetry Parties and the market power of the employer. Students get to know the rule, "the Least Cost information gathering rule" that the economic analysis of law applied in situations where the law comes to the opposite conclusion. At the end of the lecture the students debate the effectiveness of anti-discrimination legislation. 8.DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (Methods of dispute resolution and efficiency, and effectiveness of the judicial system - supply and demand of judicial decisions, alternative methods of dispute resolution, mediation) Students are introduced to ways of resolving disputes in terms of efficiency for both litigants and the state. They try to find the answer to the question: Which method of dispute resolution is the best way for a party that wants to maximize his/her benefit and minimize his/her cost. Students analyze the key factors of supply and demand affecting the efficiency of the judicial system. 9. THE ECONOMIC ACCESS TO THE LAW AND JUDICIAL DECISIONS (Constitutional Court and the protection of privacy, the Constitutional Court and vaccination, the Supreme Administrative Court and price regulation Prague taxi service, the European Court of Justice and the ban on discrimination in insurance) Czech courts, but also the judicial authorities of the European Union make references to economic concepts (and possibly economic or legal-economic literature) rather sporadically. This does not mean that their decisions absent economic logic. Students analyse certain judgments of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Court of Justice of the European Union and so on.
Literature
    required literature
  • FRYŠTENSKÁ, Marcela. Ekonomická analýza civilního práva. Masarykova univerzita Brno, 2015, 311 s. ISBN 978-80-210-7880-2.
  • TOWFIGH, Emanuel Vahid and Niels PETERSEN. Economic methods for lawyers. Edited by Markus Englerth - Sebastian J. Goerg - Stefan Magen - Alexander Morell. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2015, ix, 216. ISBN 9781788111249. info
    recommended literature
  • DAU-SCHMIDT, G. Kenneth, HARRIS, D. Seth, ORLY, Lobel. Labor and Employment Law and Economics. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2009, 361 s. ISBN 978 1 847207296.
  • MATHIS, Klaus. Efficiency Instead of Justice? Searching for the Philosophical Foundations of the Economic Analysis of Law. University of Lucerne, Faculty of Law, 2009, 219 s. ISBN 978-1-4020-9797-3.
  • BINMORE, Ken. Teorie her. Praha: Argo a Dokořán, 2014, 230 s. ISBN 978-80-7363-549-7.
  • SHAVELL, S. Economic analysis of contract law. [online]. Working paper 9696, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, 2003 [cit. 7.3.2015]. Dostupné z: http://www.nber.org/papers/w9696, kap. 15, str. 2.
  • BECKER, A. Gary. Treatise on the Family. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993, 424 s. ISBN 0-674-90698-5.
  • ŠÍMA, Josef. Ekonomie a právo. Praha: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze: Fakulta národohospodářská., 2004, s. 207. ISBN 80-245-0749-8.
  • POSNER, A. Richard. Economic analysis of law. 8. Vyd. New York: ASPEN Publisher, 2011, s. 1009. ISBN 978-0-7355-9442-5.
  • MACKAAY, Ejan. Law and Economics for Civil Law Systems. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2014, s. 533. ISBN 9781848443099.
  • SCHÄFER, Hans-Bernd, OTT, Claus. The Economic Analysis of Civil Law. Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2004, 473 s. ISBN 1 84376 277 3.
  • LEONI, Bruno, BASTIAT, Frédéric. Právo a svoboda/Zákon. Liberální institut, 2007, s. 336. ISBN: 978-80-8638-950-9.
  • COOTER, Robert, ULEN, S. Thomas. Law & Economics. 6. vyd., Courier Westford, Inc., 2011, s. 555. ISBN 978-0132540650.
  • EPSTEIN, Richard Allen. Právo, ekonomie a politika. Praha: Wolters Kluwer Česká republika, 2010, 288 s. ISBN 9788073575298. info
  • CABRILLO, Francisco and Sean FITZPATRICK. The economics of courts and litigation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2008, x, 272. ISBN 9781843768043. info
  • The law and economics of irrational behavior. Edited by Francesco Parisi - Vernon L. Smith. Stanford, California: Stanford economics and finance, 2005, xvi, 613. ISBN 0804751447. info
  • Behavioral law and economics. Edited by Cass R. Sunstein. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, xiv, 431. ISBN 9780521667432. info
    not specified
  • Procedural law and economics. Edited by Chris William Sanchirico. Second edition. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2012, xi, 531. ISBN 9781847208248. info
Teaching methods
Teaching methods: - Conventional teaching methods (verbal, practical) - Activating methods (discussion, heuristic) - Comprehensive (frontal teaching, individual, critical thinking, teaching supported by computer, television teaching)
Assessment methods
The course is finished by colloquium. The condition of successful completion of the colloquium is attendance at seminars and passing a check test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
General note: Není možno zapsat, pokud si student předmět nezaregistroval v Registraci předmětů. Je třeba mít absolvován některý z těchto předmětů: BPP_ZAPR||BKP_ZAPR||BPP_OPR1||BKP_OPR1||MPP_OPVZ.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Výuka předmětu bude zahájena jen v případě, že budou naplněny přiměřené kapacitní podmínky.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2016, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2018, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/autumn2018/MPP_EACP