Malcolm Rutherford wrote: I don't think the common law was entirely   
spontaneous, as the central government of the time was involved in   
the effort to have local  courts adopt a common set of rules.....  
  
Fred Carstensen responds: Actually, the centralization of authority   
in the Common Law courts was at first largely the work of Sir Edward   
Coke (1552-1634), who, as Chief Justice of Kings Bench, sought to   
suppress competing courts.  He also fought for the independence of   
the judiciary, for which James I removed him from the Court.  The   
ultimate supremacy of the Common Law courts came in two stages.    
First, in1642, Parliament abolished Star Chamber, the highest of the   
prerogative (royal) courts and the last remaining significant   
competitor.  In 1701, the Act of Settlement established the principle   
of the independence of the judiciary.  I take as a result 1701 as the   
historical point at which both constitutional limited government and   
capitalism was born.  
  
For this discussion, what I would point to is the framework that this   
established was one in which individuals (firms) could formulate   
reasonably stable expectations about the future consequences of   
current (economic) decisions--and thus engaged in micro-planned   
activities that at the macro level appeared spontaneous.  
  
Fred Carstensen