Overview

Conundrums, puzzles, and perversities: these are Leo Katz’s stock-in-trade, and in Why the Law Is So Perverse, he focuses on four fundamental features of our legal system, all of which seem to not make sense on some level and to demand explanation. First, legal decisions are essentially made in an either/or fashion—guilty or not guilty, liable or not liable, either it’s a contract or it’s not—but reality is rarely as clear-cut. Why aren’t there any in-between verdicts? Second, the law is full of loopholes. No one seems to like them, but somehow they cannot be made to disappear. Why? Third, legal systems are loath to punish certain kinds of highly immoral conduct while prosecuting other far less pernicious behaviors. What makes a villainy a felony? Finally, why does the law often prohibit what are sometimes called win-win transactions, such as organ sales or surrogacy contracts?             Katz asserts that these perversions arise out of a cluster of logical difficulties related to multicriterial decision making. The discovery of these difficulties dates back to Condorcet’s eighteenth-century exploration of voting rules, which marked the beginning of what we know today as social choice theory. Condorcet’s voting cycles, Arrow’s Theorem, Sen’s Libertarian Paradox—every seeming perversity of the law turns out to be the counterpart of one of the many voting paradoxes that lie at the heart of social choice. Katz’s lucid explanations and apt examples show why they resist any easy resolutions.             The New York Times Book Review called Katz’s first book “a fascinating romp through the philosophical side of the law.” Why the Law Is So Perverse is sure to provide its readers a similar experience.

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Reviews

Leo Katz wisely peppers his puzzles with humor, jokes, miniplays, and thoughtful warnings of difficult passages to come (along with welcome invitations to skip ahead) that temper this otherwise demanding volume and make following the twists and turns of the argument well worth the challenge. And for those for whom puzzling is a pleasure in itself, the book will be a feast. (Boston Globe) Mr. Katz unravels the logical tangles with clarity, humor and a light touch - a testament to the quality of his writing. (Wall Street Journal) Why the Law Is So Perverse is a terrific book. It is original in its general conception and creative in all the particularities of its execution. And in bringing the social choice argument to the law and legal problems, Leo Katz has made an important and novel academic contribution. (Bruce Chapman, University of Toronto)

"""Leo Katz wisely peppers his puzzles with humor, jokes, miniplays, and thoughtful warnings of difficult passages to come (along with welcome invitations to skip ahead) that temper this otherwise demanding volume and make following the twists and turns of the argument well worth the challenge. And for those for whom puzzling is a pleasure in itself, the book will be a feast."" (Boston Globe) ""Mr. Katz unravels the logical tangles with clarity, humor and a light touch - a testament to the quality of his writing."" (Wall Street Journal) ""Why the Law Is So Perverse is a terrific book. It is original in its general conception and creative in all the particularities of its execution. And in bringing the social choice argument to the law and legal problems, Leo Katz has made an important and novel academic contribution."" (Bruce Chapman, University of Toronto)"""

Author Information

Leo Katz is the Frank Carano Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is the author of Bad Acts and Guilty Minds: Conundrums of the Criminal Law and Ill-Gotten Gains: Evasion, Blackmail, Fraud, and Kindred Puzzles of the Law, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

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