Spontaneous Order

Cato Unbound has an "essay and reactions" series on the issue of Friedrich Hayek's concept of spontaneous order and how it might apply to the common law.

Among non-economists, Nobel laureate Friedrich A. Hayek is perhaps best known for two things: his seminal book The Road to Serfdom, and his defense of the theory of spontaneous order. Briefly stated, the theory of spontaneous order holds that many of the most useful social institutions are the product of human action, but not of human design.

Examples abound. No one individual or committee sets market prices; those who have tried have always failed. No designer created the English language, and artificial languages have never met with any great success. Scientific discovery through repeated experiment causes truth to emerge, but scientific truth is not forged through rationalistic design. Instead, it is a product of many uncoordinated searches, serendipity, and replication across the scientific community.

Arguably the greatest example of spontaneous order outside the market, however, is the development of the common law, a legal tradition that proceeds incrementally, case by case, privileging precedent and continuity. No one individual or committee created the common law. Indeed, it is said that the common law is discovered by judges rather than created by legislatures. The common law is robust for the same profound reason that markets and language are robust, and each therefore deserves great deference.