Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:51:50.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Real Property, Spontaneous Order, and Norms in the Gold Mines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

Andrea McDowell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article contributes to the current debate about why people follow the law even when they are not subject to legal sanctions, as when there are no police and little danger of a lawsuit. Most recent scholarship in this area takes the form of norms theories, suggesting that social norms rather than laws shape behavior and that deviations from the norm are punished by either social or internal sanctions. Robert Sugden, however, proposes that order may develop “spontaneously” in the many areas of life where abiding by the rules minimizes the risk of costly confrontations with others and is thus in the interest of all parties. When this is true, the threat of little or no sanctions plays no role in regulating behavior. This article tests Sugden's theory against a simple property system, that of the California gold mines, in which individual miners held small claims subject to strict work requirements. The evidence of eyewitnesses shows that the stability of the regime did not depend on norms, but on the reasonable prediction that other claim holders would themselves stand up for their rights under the local mining code. Disputes about the rules and their application were submitted to arbitrators, whose decisions were accepted by the parties and did not need to be enforced. The California experience thus provides an example of a stable property regime for which game theory has a more satisfying explanation than do any of the norms theories.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , Autumn 2004 , pp. 771 - 818
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2004 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, George Diary W. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued as WA Mss S-262.Google Scholar
Auger, Édouard 1854. Voyage en California. Paris: L. Hachette et cie.Google Scholar
Baker, Douglas C. and William, R. Morrison. 1999. The Development of Property Rights on the Canadian and American Frontiers. American Review of Canadian Studies 29: 431–46.Google Scholar
Bancroft, Howe Hubert. 1887. Popular Tribunals. San Francisco: History Company.Google Scholar
Barker, , Isaac. Diary of a Voyage around Cape Horn… and of Life in the Mines near Mormon Island, Calif., Sept. 18, 1849 to Dec. 31, 1850. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 19366.Google Scholar
Borthwick, David John. 1857. Three Years in California. London: W. Blackwood and Son. Reprinted, Oakland, Calif.: Biobooks, 1948.Google Scholar
Browne, Ross J. 1867. Report on the Mineral Resources of the States and Territories West of the Rocky Mountains. 40th Cong., 2d sess. Cong. Doc. Ser. 1289, H. Exec. Doc. No. 202.Google Scholar
Bryant, Wheeler Jonathan. 1852. Letter to brother George Quincy Adams Bryant, dated Diamond Springs, Nov. 18, 19, or 20. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA Mss 51.Google Scholar
Capron, Smith Elisha. 1854. History of California, from Its Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: J. P. Jewett. Carson, James H. 1991. Bright Gem of the Western Seas: California 1846–1852, ed. Peter, Browning. Lafayette, Calif.: Great Western Books.Google Scholar
1852. Early Recollections of the Mines, and a Description of the Great Tulare Valley. Reprinted, Tarrytown, N.Y.: W. Abbatt, 1931.Google Scholar
Christman, Enos Lewis. 1930. One Man'n Gold: The Letters and Journal of a Forty- Niner, ed. Florence, Christman M. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Clappe, Louise Smith, Amelia Knapp (a.k.a. Dame, Shirley). 1922. The Letters from California Mines m 1851–52, ed. Thomas, Russell C. San Francisco: T. C. Russell.Google Scholar
Clark, John. The California Guide. With Distances and Notes of Travel by Clark and Co. in Fifty Two from Ohio to the Sacramento Valley. Typescript, Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA MSS 63.Google Scholar
Clay, Karen, and Gavin, Wright. Forthcoming. Order without Law? Property Rights During the California Gold Rush. Explorations in Economic History.Google Scholar
Cogswell, Pearson Moses. 1949. The Gold Rush Diary of Moses Cogswell of New Hampshire, ed. Munson Hunt, Elmer. Concord, N.H.: New Hampshire Historical Society.Google Scholar
Cooter, Robert. 1996. Decentralized Law for a Complex Economy. University of Pennsylvania Law Review 144: 1643–96.Google Scholar
1998. Expressive Law and Economics. Journal of Legal Studies 27: 585–608.Google Scholar
2000. Do Good Laws Make Good Citizens? An Economic Analysis of Internalized Norms. Virginia Law Review 86: 1577–601.Google Scholar
Coronel, Franco Antonio. 1971. “A Mexican in the Mines,” a translation of the Mining Experiences of Antonio Franco Coronel as Described in his Memoir, “Cosas de Calfornia.” Appendix A in The Mexican Adaptation in American California 1846–1875, trans. Richard, Morefield. San Francisco: R and E Research Associates.Google Scholar
Cowley, Brown Richard. Journal of a Voyage on the Barque “Canton,” March 29, 1849-Nov. 9, 1851. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 26652.Google Scholar
Drummond, Frank J., and Tyrrell, Martinez. [1936.] The Popular and Legal Tribunals of Tuolumne County, 1849–1867. Division of Parks, Department of Natural Resources, Berkeley, California. Mimeograph.Google Scholar
Ellickson, Robert C. 1989. Bringing Culture and Human Frailty to Rational Actors: A Critique of Classical Law and Economics. Chicago-Kent Law Review 65: 23–55.Google Scholar
1991. Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
1998. Law and Economics Discovers Social Norms. Journal of Legal Studies 27: 537–52.Google Scholar
Enos, A.A. [1905]. Across the Plains in 1850: Personal Recollections of A.A. Enos, ed. Enos, A. F. Stanton, Neb.].Google Scholar
Ferry, Hypolite. 1850. Description de la Nouvelle California: Géographique, Politique, et Moral. Paris: L. Maison.Google Scholar
Francisco, Newman Albert. Letters. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at ms. HM 26521–26532.Google Scholar
Gee, Perry. Journal of Travels across the Plains to California. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA Mss 213.Google Scholar
Gintis, Herbert, with Samuel, Bowles, Robert, Boyd, and Ernst, Fehr. 2003. Explaining Altruistic Behavior in Humans. Evolution and Human Behavior 24: 153–72.Google Scholar
Gordon, P. F. James 1989. Individual Morality and Reputation Costs as Deterrents to Tax Evasion. European Economics Review 33: 797–805.Google Scholar
Gorgas, Solomon A. Diary of an Overland Journey from St. Joseph, Mo., to Placerville, Calif.… Also Return Voyage, April 28, 1850 -April 8, 1851. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 651.Google Scholar
Grabhorn, Bissell Jane. 1934. A California Gold Rush Miscellany. [San Francisco]: Grabhorn Press.Google Scholar
Grivas, Theodore. 1961. Alcalde Rule: The Nature of Local Government in Spanish and Mexican California. California Historical Society Quarterly 40: 11–32.Google Scholar
Gunn, Lewis C. 1928. Records of a California Family: Journals and Letters of Lewis C. Gunn and Elizabeth Le Breton Gunn, ed. Marston, Anna Lee. San Diego, privately printed.Google Scholar
Hayek, F.A. 1979. Law, Legislation, and Liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Heckendorn, J., and Wilson, W. A. 1856. Miners' and Businessmen'n Directory. Printed at the Clipper Office, Columbia, Calif.Google Scholar
Hittell, Theodore H. 1898. History of California. Vol. 3. San Francisco: N. J. Stone.Google Scholar
Hobbes, Thomas. 1951. Leviathan. London: Andrew Cooke.Google Scholar
Hovey, [a], John, . Journal of a Voyage from Newburypont., Mass., to San Francisco, Cal, in the Brig Charlott by a Passenger, Commencing Jan. 23, 1849, and ending July 23, 1849. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 322 [b]. Historical Account of the Troubles between the Chilean and American Miners in the Calaveros Mining District. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 4384.Google Scholar
Hutchings, James H. 1853. The Miners' Ten Commandments. Letter sheet. [San Francisco: Sun Print.].Google Scholar
Irish Hill Mining District Rules and Regulations. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Catalogued at Banc MSS C-B 547 pt. I: 112.Google Scholar
Joy, Emmett P., compiler. 1962. French Hill in Mokelumne Hill, Calaveras County, California, dated Feb. 14- Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Catalogued at Banc F 869 M68 J6.Google Scholar
Justesen, Peter. 1865. Two Years' Adventures of a Dane in the California Gold Mines, translated and printed for the author by John Bellows, Gloucester, U.K. Google Scholar
Kendrick, Franklin Benjamin. Overland Letters. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA Mss S-1249 K 345.Google Scholar
King, Clarence. 1885. The United States Mining Laws and Regulations Thereunder, and State and Territorial Mining Laws: To Which are Appended Local Mining Rules and Regulations. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Lambertie, Charles de. 1853. Voyage Pittoresque en California et au Chili. Paris: Ledoyen.Google Scholar
Lawson, Gary, and Guy, Seidman. 2001. The Hobbesian Constitution: Governing without Authority. Northwestern University Law Review 95: 581–628.Google Scholar
MacDowell, Douglas M. 1978. Law in Classical Athens. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Marryat, Frank. 1855. Mountains and Molehills. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Mason, Jesse D. 1881. History of Amador County, California, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Oakland, Calif.: Thompson and West.Google Scholar
McAdams, Richard. 1997. The Origin, Development, and Regulation of Norms. Michigan Law Review 96: 338–433.Google Scholar
2000. A Focal Point Theory of Expressive Law. Virginia Law Review 86: 1649–729.Google Scholar
McDowell, Andrea G. 2002. From Commons to Claims: Property Rights in the California Gold Rush. Yale Journal of Law and Humanities 14: 1–72.Google Scholar
Merrill, Thomas W., and Henry, E. Smith. 2000. Optimal Standardization in the Law of Property: The Numerous Clausus Principle. Yale Law Journal 110: 1–70.Google Scholar
2001. What Happened to Property in Law and Economics Yale Law Journal 111: 357–398.Google Scholar
Miller, William W. Voyage to California: By Way of Cape Horn and of Life in the Gold Fields of California, 18491851. Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA MSS S-199.Google Scholar
Mobley, C. C. Diary of a Miner at Oregon Bar, California etc. 18501851. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 26612.Google Scholar
Murrell, McKinley George. Letter to his Father, dated Big Bar, October 30, 1854. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at Murrell Collection, HM 36338–36403.Google Scholar
Newton, Marshall John. [1913]. Memoirs. [Cambridge, N.Y.: Washington County Post.].Google Scholar
Paul, Rodman W. 1947. California Gold: The Beginning of Mining in the Far West. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Porter, Burton B. [1907]. One of the People: His Own Story. [Colton, Calif.]: published by author.Google Scholar
Posner, Erie A. 2000a. Law and Social Norms: The Case of Tax Compliance. Virginia Law Review 86: 1781–819.Google Scholar
2000b. Law and Social Norms. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reed, William F. Journal. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Catalogued at Banc Mss C-F 214.Google Scholar
Rohrbough, Malcom J. 1997. Days of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the American Nation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California.Google Scholar
Rosales, Vincente Pérez. 1976. In We Were 49ers! Chilean Accounts of the California Goli Rush, ed. Edwin, Beilharz A. and López, Carlos U. Pasadena, Calif.: Ward Ritchie.Google Scholar
Rose, Carol M. 1985. Possession as the Origin of Property. University of Chicago Law Review 52: 73–88.Google Scholar
Royce, Josiah. 1886. California from the Conquest in 1846 to the Second Vigilance Committee in San Francisco. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin.Google Scholar
Sadler, Warren. Journal. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Catalogued at Banc Mss C F 73.Google Scholar
Schlatter, Richard. 1951. Private Property: The History of an Idea. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Saint-Amant, Pierre Charles Fournier de. 1854. Voyages en Californie et dans ľOrégon. Paris: L. Maison.Google Scholar
Shavell, Steven. 2004. Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shinn, Howard Charles. 1885. Mining Camps: A Study in American Frontier Government. New York: Charles Scribner'r Son. Republished, New York: A. A. Knopf, 1948.Google Scholar
Sugden, Robert. 1986. The Economics of Rights, Cooperation, and Welfare. New York and Oxford: B. Blackwell.Google Scholar
1989. Spontaneous Order. Journal of Economic Perspectives 3:85–97.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 1996. On the Expressive Function of Law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review 144: 2021–53.Google Scholar
Taylor, Bayard. 1850. Eldorado, or Adventures in the Path of Empire. New York: G. P. Putnam.Google Scholar
Tocqueville, Alexis. 1952. Democracy in America, trans. Henry, Reeve. World'd Classics London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tuolumne, . 1852a. A Title to Land–The Present Tenure. Sonora Herald , Oct. 23, 1.Google Scholar
1852b. A Title to Land: The Present System–Its Unthriftiness. Sonora Herald , Oct. 30, 1.Google Scholar
Umbeck, John. 1981. A Theory of Property Rights: With Application to The California Gold Rush. Ames: Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Van Dorn, Thomas J. 1850. Letter to his wife, July 28. Beinecke Library, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. Catalogued at WA Mss S-1319.Google Scholar
Webster, Kimball. 1917. The Gold Seekers of 49. A Personal Narrative of the Overland Trail and Adventures in California and Oregon from 1849 to 1854- With introduction and biographical sketch by George Waldo Brown. Manchester, N.H.: Standard Book.Google Scholar
Williams, Floyd Mary. 1921. History of the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851 . University of California Publications in History, no. 12. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Wood, Warren Joseph. Diaries of Crossing the Plains in 1849 and Life in the Diggings from 1849 to 1853. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif. Catalogued at HM 318.Google Scholar
Woods, Bates Daniel. 1851. Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings. New York: Harper and Brothers.Google Scholar
Yuba County Court Record of Civil Cases. 1850 California State Library, Sacramento. Catalogued at FC 347 49.Google Scholar
Zerbe, Richard O., and Leigh Anderson, C. 2001. Culture and Fairness in the Development of Institutions in the California Gold Fields. Journal of Economic History 61: 114–143.Google Scholar