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The Role and Resolution of the Compensation Principle in Society: Part One — The Role

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Essays on the Economic Role of Government

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Abstract

In this chapter the compensation problem is explored in the light of radical indeterminacy, selective perception and the nature and operation of the legal system. The compensation principle is shown to be functional as psychic balm and legitimation of the institution of property and the basic organisation of society, and not the protection of particular property rights, except selectively. Conventional legal and economic treatment of compensation issues — for example, the conflicting, conclusionary and tautological taking issue — is thus shown not to reach the fundamentals of the system of property, the legal system and the roles thereof in society.

Written with Nicholas Mercuro; originally published in Research in Law and Economics, vol. 1 (1979).

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  1. Michigan State University, USA

    Warren J. Samuels (Professor of Economics)

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© 1992 Warren J. Samuels

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Samuels, W.J. (1992). The Role and Resolution of the Compensation Principle in Society: Part One — The Role. In: Essays on the Economic Role of Government. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12374-2_11

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