Observations on the legal theory of finance

Abstract

This is a comment on 'Towards a legal theory of finance' by Katharina Pistor. It notes that both law and money are complex and controversial phenomena. They have to be treated as historically specific institutions that arise in the context of fundamental uncertainty. The historical origins of both are briefly considered. It is argued that fundamental uncertainty in the Knight-Keynes sense has been marginalised in modern economics and this creates problems for the theory of money. The comment also expands on the notion of 'essential hybridity' - which signals that money and law are a result of both private arrangements and state intervention.