Legal Origins Theory, Economic Development and Competition Law – Canada and Korea

Abstract

Legal Origins Theory is a relatively recent school of thought developed by law and finance scholars within the framework of comparative legal studies. The proponents of the Theory posit that societies with different legal origins are associated with different legal rules, and these differently formed legal rules lead to different economic outcomes. The basic conclusion of the Theory suggest that common law based countries tend to do better as shown by economic indicators compared to civil law countries. The focus of this paper is to examine the Theory findings in two stages. First, it will consider whether the Theory can be used to explain the rapid economic development of Korea over the last few decades. Second, this paper will examine whether competition (fair trade) law falls within the ambit of the Theory. This paper attempts to arrive at the conclusion that different stages of economic development would better explain (rather than legal origins) the need and development of laws governing economic development. The framework of analysis is adopted from the work of Christopher A. Whytock, which I refer to as modified functional approach.