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🪵 The Threshold

The right to be sued gives one power to make credible promises

Properties2
tagsja-picks, xref, seed, contrarian_or_surprising, trade, corroborated, category/contrarian-or-surprising
aliases@hardin_trust_2002, loc. 113

2 min read

The right to be sued gives one power to make credible promises

Evidence

Among the legal privileges of corporations, two that are mentioned in textbooks are the right to sue and the “right” to be sued. Who wants to be sued! But the right to be sued is the power to make a promise: to borrow money, to enter a contract, to do business with someone who might be damaged. If suit does arise, the “right” seems a liability in retrospect; beforehand it was a prerequisite to doing business. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 113

Categorization

  • XREF: This is the formal-legal counterpart to the Mafia’s private enforcement: the state-enabled capacity to be bound, which Gambetta argues the Mafia substitutes for when courts fail. — connects to: Promises fall into three kinds with different legal enforceability; Trust can be extended to create an obligation in the trusted; Legal obligation differs from mere coercion by threat of force — Ronald M. Dworkin, The Model of Rules, 40 (+3 more)
  • SEED: A piece on how the ‘right to be sued’ frames all contract law as a commitment technology — and why private enforcers must replicate it when courts are unusable.
  • corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 113

Broader Connections

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