The Content of Our Casebooks: Why Do Cases Get Litigated?

Abstract

This is the 2000 Mason Ladd Lecture delivered at Florida State. It is intended primarily for law students as a guide to the different approaches to the question of why cases actually litigate. The article begins with the premise that in any dispute the only mechanism for reducing the joint welfare of the parties is to engage agents to litigate the distribution of the contested assets. Beginning with that premise, the Article traces the various explanations given for why cases do actually proceed to litigation. The first part of the article is a rendition of the classic account from the economic analysis of law. The second, and longer, part of the Article then turns to various behavioral insights that call into question some of the simpler assumptions of the standard law and economics account of litigation. The paper includes data drawn from posing classic framing questions to the first-year body at FSU to highlight some of the behavioral considerations in litigation.