Commerce, Religion, and the Rule of Law

The rule of law and religion can act as commercial substitutes. Both can create the trust required for material prosperity. The rule of law simplifies social interactions, turning people into formal legal agents and generating a map of society that the state can observe and control, thus credibly co...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Oman, Nathan B. (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Brill 2018
Dans: Journal of law, religion and state
Année: 2018, Volume: 6, Numéro: 2/3, Pages: 213-235
Sujets non-standardisés:B Rule of law religion trust markets
Accès en ligne: Accès probablement gratuit
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Édition parallèle:Non-électronique
Description
Résumé:The rule of law and religion can act as commercial substitutes. Both can create the trust required for material prosperity. The rule of law simplifies social interactions, turning people into formal legal agents and generating a map of society that the state can observe and control, thus credibly committing to the enforcement of the legal rights demanded by impersonal markets. Religion, in contrast, embraces complex social identities. Within these communities, economic actors can monitor and sanction misbehavior. Both approaches have benefits and problems. The rule of law allows for trade among strangers, fostering peaceful pluralism. However, law breeds what Montesquieu called “a certain feeling for exact justice” that crowds out deeper forms of relation. Religious commerce fosters precisely such communities. Religious commerce, however, does not create bridges between strangers as effectively as the formal rule of law. Furthermore, the state tends to be suspicious of tight religious communities, particularly when they are commercially successful.
ISSN:2212-4810
Contient:In: Journal of law, religion and state
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22124810-00602004