The State Undermined Codified Customary Law.

Part of the modernization of law was its formalization. Broadly speaking the legal code evolved into two basic forms: as codified customary law and as common law. Codified law spelled it all out and it was therefore accessible to anyone who was interested. With common law “judges both made law and applied it. But common law had the defect of a wide margin of uncertainty.” [42] Common law eventually became the privileged arena of judges and lawyers. Obviously, restricted access and specialized jargon and legalistic methods created an enhanced opportunity for intervention. “Customary law and its institutions facilitate voluntary interactions; government law and its institutions facilitate involuntary transfers.” [43]

Liberty & Justice of Economic Equilibrium, p. 22.

[42] Henry Hazlitt, The Foundations of Morality, (The Foundation For Economic Education, Inc., 1998), p. 65.

 [43] Bruce L. Benson, The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without The State, (Pacific Research Institute For Public Policy, 1990), p. 101.

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