Private Law Theory

Theories of private law attempt to understand private law – to render private law intelligible. This is true for descriptive, interpretive, and prescriptive theories. It is true, in other words, whether the theory’s concern is giving an accurate description of private law; offering a rational reconstruction of the values served by private law as it exists; or offering an argument for what values ought to underlie and guide private law. In the case of descriptive theories, one cannot offer an accurate description of the rules and institutions that fall within private law unless one has at least a working theory about the criteria that determine what counts as private law …

Jiménez, Felipe, Understanding Private Law (October 28, 2022). Forthcoming in Thilo Kuntz and Paul B Miller, eds, Methodology in Private Law Theory (Oxford University Press, Forthcoming); USC CLASS Research Paper No CLASS22-39; USC Law Legal Studies Paper No 22-39.