Repo transactions lacked a legal definition until the 1980s

Evidence

That legal status was clarified only in the 1980s. Previously, the conduct of repo had been remarkably informal: there was no clearly established legal definition of “repo.” Sometimes “two parties will do a repo but sign no agreement; they may be just sloppy, but more likely, party A’s lawyer doesn’t like party B’s agreement and vice versa” (Stigum 1989, p. 5, emphasis in original). — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1294

Categorization

• QUESTION: What prompted the 1980s clarification of repo’s legal status? Likely tied to the collapse of Drysdale and other repo blowups — worth chasing.
• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader performativity theme: market practices operating without formal legal grounding, and laws catching up afterward. — connects to: Informal trust norms once governed the repo market in place of legal contracts — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1295