Ejan Mackaay offers a comprehensive look at the essential points of economic reasoning, the Coase theorem, and legal institutions such as intellectual property, extra-contractual civil liability and contracts. The book's structure mirrors the way law is taught in civil law countries, with structured presentations, references to civil code articles paired with non-technical explanations, and limited reliance on graphs. This English-language version builds on the success of the author's 2008 French-language textbook on law and economics from a civil law perspective.