"This unique collection of largely unpublished papers brings together the founding fathers of law and economics to provide their own views on the origins and intellectual history of the field." "These 16 essays (including three by Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences) provide an impressive blend of differing experiences and varying perspectives, reflecting on the intellectual foundations of the field, its early struggles for recognition, and its remarkable advance during the last four decades of the twentieth century, and into the twenty-first. The essays clearly outline, and contribute new insights into, all of the central issues of this still vibrant research programme. A unifying theme of the book is the central importance attached by each scholar to scientific analysis, rather than to any particular ideology or dogma." "This book provides an absorbing intellectual history of law and economics, and will be a fascinating read for academics and researchers with an interest in law and economics, the history of economic thought, public choice and public policy."--BOOK JACKET.