For this wide-ranging collection, Professor Miller has drawn on the work of the best-known scholars in this field to explore the relationship between economics and law in ancient societies. Topics covered include: the methodology of ancient economic law; the economic structure of land law in ancient times;

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Geoffrey P. Miller PART I GENERAL APPROACHES 1. Richard A. Epstein (1997), ‘The Modern Uses of Ancient Law’ 2. Saul Levmore (1986), ‘Rethinking Comparative Law: Variety and Uniformity in Ancient and Modern Tort Law’ 3. Richard Posner (1983), ‘A Theory of Primitive Society, with Special Reference to Law’ PART II LIABILITY SYSTEMS 4. Francesco Parisi and Giuseppe Dari-Mattiacci (2004), ‘The Rise and Fall of Communal Liability in Ancient Law’ 5. Francesco Parisi (2001), ‘The Genesis of Liability in Ancient Law’ 6. Saul Levmore (1995), ‘Rethinking Group Responsibility and Strategic Threats in Biblical Texts and Modern Law’ PART III FAMILY LAW 7. Maristella Botticini and Aloysius Siow (2003), ‘Why Dowries?’ 8. Rick Geddes and Paul J. Zak (2002), ‘The Rule of One-Third’ PART IV LAND LAW 9. M.I. Finley (1953), ‘Land, Debt, and the Man of Property in Classical Athens’ 10. Robert C. Ellickson and Charles DiA. Thorland (1995), ‘Ancient Land Law: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel’ 11. Francesco Parisi (2004), ‘The Origins and Evolution of Property Rights Systems’ PART V CRIMINAL LAW 12. James Lindgren (1996), ‘Why the Ancients May Not Have Needed a System of Criminal Law’ 13. Thomas J. Miceli and Kathleen Segerson (2007), ‘Punishing the Innocent along with the Guilty: The Economics of Individual versus Group Punishment’ PART VI COMMERCIAL LAW 14. David Daube (1979), ‘Money and Justiciability’ 15. Geoffrey P. Miller (1993), ‘Contracts of Genesis’ 16. Geoffrey P. Miller (1993), ‘Ritual and Regulation: A Legal-Economic Interpretation of Selected Biblical Texts’ PART VII ECONOMIC MARKETS AND INSTITUTIONS 17. Peter Temin (2001), ‘A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire’ 18. Keith Sharfman (2007), ‘The Law and Economics of Hoarding’ 19. Henry Hansmann, Reinier Kraakman and Richard Squire (2006), ‘Law and the Rise of the Firm’ PART VIII BANKRUPTCY AND RISK 20. Robert J. Aumann (2003), ‘Risk Aversion in the Talmud’ 21. Robert J. Aumann and Michael Maschler (1985), ‘Game Theoretic Analysis of a Bankruptcy Problem from the Talmud’ PART IX CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 22. Robert K. Fleck and F. Andrew Hanssen (2006), ‘The Origins of Democracy: A Model with Application to Ancient Greece’ 23. Geoffrey P. Miller (1995), ‘J as Constitutionalist: A Political Interpretation of Exodus 17:8-16 and Related Texts’ 24. Adam S. Chodorow (2007), ‘Biblical Tax Systems and the Case for Progressive Taxation’