Questioning The Law In Corporate America

A powerful and succinct reminder of the way in which the 'corporate property rights structure' has come to dominate American society and politics...Brings out the connections among law, politics, and economics. Howard J. Vogel Hamline University School of LaW This provocative overview of fundamental principles in American law points out how the law is administered unfairly and how wrongly it is conceived if it is to meet basic needs in our society today.

Gerald Houseman examines legal education and practice, and law relating to business, government, labor, and elections. He dissects different theories and shows certain possibilities for reform. This summary of basic concerns about law and society today is easy reading and a good text for students of law, business, government, and economics.

The first part of the book deals with forces retarding change in American policy; the second questions the corporate-property power establishment; and the third questions law and economic approaches. This scrutiny of assumptions, different approaches, and conclusions is followed by proposals for fundamental reforms.

Review: Houseman . . . passionately condemns business and government practices during the Reagan and Bush administrations including the corporate merger and acquisitions process, as well as the misuse of the privilege of business incorporation in American society. . . . [This] is a timely introduction to the relationship of government to the economy during a period of dizzying and apparently revolutionary change in America's relative economic standing in the world. -Jon Gotschall Professor of Political Science State University of New York at Plattsburgh