There is a visceral and natural link between law and economics. We need law to make business; we need law to drive economics; we need economic methods to measure law. But the Law and Economics School had little success within Africa academia in the last century.
We were too busy saying that the Law must be obeyed because it is the Law. Students forgot to ask why the Law was the way it was. What were its objectives? Did it manage to attain them? What were its effects? We forgot to ask the reason behind the laws until the reason vanished. The law became a moral/political opinion, something which, like opinions, is neither right nor wrong, but nonetheless must be obeyed.
**We need to be as precise as possible when it comes to Law. **
But Law is not opinion. If Law and Economics can teach us anything, it is that the law is – to a certain extent – measurable, and its impacts are quantifiable. We can do math with law. We can answer questions like: _ What will be the impact of this statute? Did it achieve the effect we wanted it to have? What do we need to enact to have effect X on the economy? What are the best provisions to boost economic life? How are judges going to settle that matter? _
We, the Africans and Nigerians alike, don't know how to answer these questions. We, the lawyers, have too often applied the non scientific - humanist approach to the legal field. After all, we have chosen to go to Law School also because we loathed math.
Now We Have the Future is taking Law & Economics to Europe. They are giving it back to the people, and they are making it simple, practical, and usable. The question is when will Law & Economics start in our indigenous Universities in Nigeria.
We were too busy saying that the Law must be obeyed because it is the Law. Students forgot to ask why the Law was the way it was. What were its objectives? Did it manage to attain them? What were its effects? We forgot to ask the reason behind the laws until the reason vanished. The law became a moral/political opinion, something which, like opinions, is neither right nor wrong, but nonetheless must be obeyed.
**We need to be as precise as possible when it comes to Law. **
But Law is not opinion. If Law and Economics can teach us anything, it is that the law is – to a certain extent – measurable, and its impacts are quantifiable. We can do math with law. We can answer questions like: _ What will be the impact of this statute? Did it achieve the effect we wanted it to have? What do we need to enact to have effect X on the economy? What are the best provisions to boost economic life? How are judges going to settle that matter? _
We, the Africans and Nigerians alike, don't know how to answer these questions. We, the lawyers, have too often applied the non scientific - humanist approach to the legal field. After all, we have chosen to go to Law School also because we loathed math.
Now We Have the Future is taking Law & Economics to Europe. They are giving it back to the people, and they are making it simple, practical, and usable. The question is when will Law & Economics start in our indigenous Universities in Nigeria.
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