The question at the heart of the present work and the contributions discussed

herein is that of the enterprise as an entity, thus as an institution distinct from

any contractual elements or legal entities (see Berle 1947 [reprinted in this

volume] and Manfrin, this volume). All can agree that the capitalist enterprise is

something more than a mere series of contracts. Institutionalist economists have

the tendency to seek arguments in legal theory that favour the institutional

dimension of the enterprise. By doing so, they focus more on legal theory and

doctrine than on a deeper analysis of positive law. The thrust of the argument is

almost always oriented towards the search for and definition of the substance –

contractual or institutional – of the enterprise (see the chapters by Moore and

Rebe´rioux and Weinstein, this volume).