Commerce and Cooperation: Litigation and Settlement of Civil Disputes on the Australian Frontier, 1860–1990

Abstract

I examine the evolution of conflict and cooperation during economic growth by analyzing civil disputes in New South Wales between 1860 and 1900. Disputes per capita fell over time and the proportion of cases settled before trial increased, but patterns varied across locations and types of disputes. Economic conflicts were likelier to be settled than personal disputes, and the fraction of cases settled was significantly lower in frontier areas and in districts without access to transportation. The results suggest that increased market exchange facilitates the development of informal rules and encourages transactors to find cooperative solutions through private bargaining.

Social capital versus social history

“…70 Contracting is also perceived to be difficult across scattered Australian gold mines at the end of the nineteenth century, meaning less social capital by which to come to amicable agreements and, hence, more costly litigation in the courts. 71 In an early application in this vein, the notion of social capital, referencing Coleman, has been deployed to explain the laying of plank roads in New York as a reflection of the ability of community spirit to overcome the problem of free riders. 72 Unfortunately, for the authors, by comparison with the contemporaneously published Putnam on Italy, they do not seem to have been able to project planks to present-day US civil society.…”