On the interaction of legal and economic approaches in the study of property relations

Abstract

The article reveals the negative consequences of a straightforward transfer of economic categories and approaches to civil law. In this case both the variety of legal forms of property relations and their historical ties to different legal systems (Continental civil law and Anglo-American common law) are neglected. Thus, the author criticizes the application of the ‘economic analysis of law’ concept, which is based on the economic approach to common law, for legal analysis of Continental legal concepts and ideas, which are alien to it. An observation is made that the scope of this concept is limited to business relations, as the development thereof has brought to life the trend of civil law economization. Conventional and economic nature of the concepts of ‘form of ownership’ and ‘intellectual property’, fallacy of legal definitions of ‘non-cash money’, ‘uncertificated securities’, and ‘digital property’, as well as confusion of economic and legal categories in the Anglo-American classification of property rights are emphasized. The article concludes that it is necessary to replace economic approaches to civil law with a legal analysis of economy, which makes it possible to legally define property relations and exclude unreasonable confusion of economic and legal concepts.

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