The Place of Law in Political Economy. J.R. Commons’ Legal Foundations of Capitalism at 100: A Retrospective Article

This article revisits J.R. Commons’ The Legal Foundations of Capitalism (LFC), published 100 years ago, from an interdisciplinary point of view. It explains and contextualizes Commons’ approach, introduces key concepts and core arguments of the book, and links these to contemporary scholarly work and debates. The aim is to make Commons’ ideas more accessible and to demonstrate their continued relevance for discussions on the role of law in political economy.