This article surveys the theory of the public enforcement of law -- the use of public agents (inspectors, tax auditors …, police, prosecutors) to detect and to sanction violators of legal rules. We first present the basic elements of the theory …, focusing on the probability of imposition of sanctions, the magnitude and form of sanctions, and the rule of liability. We then …

vigilante justice, as represented by peer-to-peer punishment, to delegated policing, as represented by the "hired gun" mechanism …

We introduce the possibility of direct punishment by specialized enforcers into a model of community enforcement … specialized enforcement technology is sufficiently effective, cooperation is best sustained by a "single enforcer punishment … punishment that enforcers are willing to impose on deviators. Conversely, when the specialized enforcement technology is …

This note reexamines the theory of optimal public enforcement when litigation costs are incurred if the defendant is …

This chapter of the forthcoming Handbook of Law and Economics surveys the theory of the public enforcement of law … sanction imposed on a liable party be a fine, an imprisonment term, or a combination of the two? Should the rule of liability … of the central theory, including: activity level; errors; the costs of imposing fines; general enforcement; marginal …

A central result in the economic theory of liability is that, if an injurer's liability equals the victim's loss, then … either the rule of strict liability or the rule of negligence can induce the injurer to behave properly. However, for this … and, g fortiori, before any harm has occurred. This paper reevaluates the rules of strict liability and negligence when …

, injunctions or other forms of property rules work better than compensation for damage or liability rules. The equivalences of the …