Law from an evolutionary perspective

This chapter aims to show the relevance of the evolutionary perspective for law. This perspective is not an explanation of anything which is true or false, but a research program - more or less fruitful - aimed at finding evolutionary explanations of phenomena both biological and cultural. This research program is fruitful if it succeeds in producing increasingly good explanations of the phenomena to which it is applied. To give an impression of what the evolutionary perspective may bring to law, three topics are discussed: The transfer of movables as an illustration of path dependence and multi-level selection; theories about the justification of punishment as an illustration of why evolution does not necessarily select the ‘best’ theory; and the function of law to promote the survival of humanity, or of particular human cultures, as an illustration of biological and cultural coevolution (very briefly).