Dominion and Wealth: A Critical Analysis of Karl Marx’ Theory of Commercial LawDonna Kline's contribution to the Sovietica series falls outside the strict confines of the study of Soviet Marxism-Leninism. It centers its attention on the seemingly minor question of Marx' knowledge of and attitude toward the legal theory and practice in vogue at the time he was writing studies that directly addressed issues of law and economics, and that indirectly helped to fashion the legal and economic behavior of Soviet-style regimes. That this question is not as minor or as irrelevant to Marxism-Leninism as it might seem at fIrst glance flows from Marx' obvious intent to do a thorough critique of all the vectors of 'bourgeois-capitalist' civilization and culture, clearly expressed in the many key texts, where 'legal relations' form at least part of the central focus. Marx' thought was forming when the 'bourgeois' law that had become self-conscious at the end of the 18th century was, following the French Revolution, trying to 'take possession' of the social-political consciousness of European-American culture, and fInding itself coming up against the 'vagaries' of economic quasi-anarchy. There is a sense in which the 'bourgeois-capitalist' efforts at developing a legal code for existing economic practice represent a sort of 'ideology in practice' to be applied to the same phenomena that Marx wanted to account for in his peculiarly Hegelian ideological critique. |
Contents
An Analysis of Marx Description of the Will Theory of Law | 1 |
II Marx University Study | 13 |
III Textual Indications of Attribution | 15 |
IV Analysis of the Will Theory of Law | 18 |
V Analysis of the Key Passage | 29 |
VI Hegel Savigny and Locke as Will Theorists | 41 |
An Examination of the Accuracy of Marx Description of the Will Theory | 57 |
I Thesis I Legal Title and Economic Reality | 58 |
VI Contract Law and Will Theory | 131 |
An Examination of the Accuracy of Marx Description of the Law | 139 |
I Contracts as Accidental | 140 |
II Contracts as Acts of Free Will | 143 |
III Principles of Contract Law | 149 |
IV Normative Statements in the Case Law | 150 |
V Conclusion | 151 |
An Analysis of Marx Criticism of NineteenthCentury Commercial Law | 153 |
II Thesis V Contract as Accident | 66 |
III Theses VI and VII Contract and Free Will | 72 |
IV Conclusion | 80 |
Duress and Free Will in NineteenthCentury Contract Law | 81 |
II A General Review of the Doctrine of Freedom of Contract | 87 |
III The Historical Context | 97 |
IV Survey of the Law of Duress and Undue Influence | 107 |
V Outline of the Law of Duress and Undue Influence from 1820 to 1870 | 114 |
II Criticism of the Basis Will Theory | 156 |
Discussion of Dawsons Theories | 176 |
Facts of Various Cases | 179 |
Encyclopedia of Law Analysis | 205 |
NOTES | 209 |
236 | |
239 | |
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Dominion and Wealth: A Critical Analysis of Karl Marx’ Theory of Commercial Law D.C. Kline No preview available - 2011 |
Dominion and Wealth: A Critical Analysis of Karl Marx’ Theory of Commercial Law D.C. Kline No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
accidental action actual adverse possession agreement analysis appears argued aspects asserted basis will theory Beall believed capitalism Carew century choice claims coercion concept consent considered contract law court courts of equity criticism discussed duress and undue Encyclopedia of Law enforce entered equity Eugene Kamenka example existence expressed fact false freedom of contract genetic fallacy German Ideology Grundrisse Hegel held historical idea individual interpretation invalidate a contract Jewish Question judges juridical illusion Jurisprudence Karl Marx Kessler and Gilmore labor law of contract law of duress Legal Philosophy Locke matter moral nature nineteenth nineteenth-century normative noted object obligation particular party person philosophers Philosophy of Law political possession premises pressure property and contract recognition theory recognition will theory reference regard rejected relationship Roberto Mangabeira Unger rules of law Savigny Savigny's Skeate social contract society specific supra theory of law threat transaction true undue influence