‘hot appreciate how unimportant law can be when | embarked on ject. Until then I had devoted my issues from a law-a th one another, pa place to the ne id by an of research had to be abandoned 's designed to protect the safety ly preempted the widely varying common-law because Ronald Coase ba which he set outsman’ legal lil ‘university law libraries have Increasingly frustrates Country and drove north for three hours to pursue a the top of the Centi 1eoffces of the Uniz ia Extension Service County’s farm adv up and he began to talk. fora field site was ov ‘Although vaguely confident from th County would turn out to be enlightening with no particular hypotheses terviews I could see analysis of the function Details of my research methodology are a few words about usage are in order here. I have empl for most of the residents of Shasta cluded in offic ‘ease my immersion president of the Shasta County Cattleme son. I extend my deepest le “Of Coase and Cattle: in Shasta County” 38 Stan. L Re Critique of Economic and § Romano, coed lowing me to Thave many other del Michigan Law School, Univers y Dick Posner, and flaw-and-society Breached across ol Rose, and Gary Schwas Stanford Law Schoo! my years ths after I had fi ted ion invited me to speak 2 In January shed most of the fieldwork, the Shasta do. C Cascade Range ly looming cone of Mo *Contents Introduction 1 Shasta County Shasta County and Industry 15 1 1 2. The Politics of Cattle Trespass 29 3. The Resolution of Cattle-Trespass 40 4. Who Pays for Boundary Fences? 6 5. Disputes Arising out of Highway Col tock 82 ‘The Effects of Closed-Range Ordinances 104 A Theory of Norms 2. The System of Soci Shortcomings of Current Theories of Social Control le of Cooperation is of Welfare-Maximizing Norms fe Norms: Of Bees, Ca Remedial Norms: Of Ca and Hero Worsh 230 Selecting Norms: Of Contracts, Custom, “ and Photocopies 240 The Future of Norms Testing the Cont 267 280 289 293