Abstract
We provide a quantitative macrohistory of the evolution and coevolution of three fundamental elements of English caselaw: property, contract, and procedure. Our dataset is derived from a comprehensive corpus of reports on early-modern English court cases. Leveraging existing topic-model estimates, we construct annual time series of attention to each of the three legal domains between the years 1552 and 1764 and estimate a structural VAR. Property and procedure are affected for decades by their own shocks. Procedure and property coevolve. In contrast, contract adjusts quickly to its own shocks and does not coevolve with the other two areas of caselaw. We identify the episodes and events outside the legal system that correspond to systemic shocks. Edward Coke was a shock to procedure. The commercial revolution raised attention to contract. The Glorious Revolution, interestingly, did not lead to elevated attention to property issues, but the Civil War and Interregnum did. The evolution of contract, while relatively autonomous from the internal dynamics of the legal system, was, of the three legal domains, least autonomous from society. • We provide a quantitative macrohistory of the evolution and coevolution of three core elements of English caselaw: property, contract, and procedure. • Our annual times series of attention to the three legal domains are derived from existing topic-model estimates that use a comprehensive corpus of reports on pre-1765 English court cases. • Estimating a structural VAR, we identify the episodes and events outside the court system that correspond to systemic shocks. • Property and procedure were affected for decades by their own shocks and, importantly, coevolved. • The evolution of contract was relatively autonomous from the other two legal domains but remained least autonomous from society.
Published Version
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