Jeremy Bentham et l'efficience économique du droit. Une illustration par l'analyse des règles monétaires

This article aims at showing how Bentham addressed the modern issue of the economic efficiency of the law (as defined by Posner) ; to do that, we focus on Defence of Usury [1787] and the manuscript Sur les prix [1801a] : in 1787, Bentham stated that, in order to increase wealth, the rate of interest should be freely determined by the market ; in 1801, he called for a system of controlling the money supply growth. The relationship between market and rules is thus fundamental ; with usury laws, rules are intended to replace market, although market is more efficient and opens many possibilities of circumvention (I), while Bentham plead for a complementary relationship between rules and market, in the case of his proposals for controlling the money supply (II). Classification JEL : B1 ; B3