ABSTRACT
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).
