The law and economics movement is based on the premise that the law cannot be left in the hands of legal academics and professionals alone. It provides a powerful investigative tool for examining the efficiency of laws through the lens of economics - the science of rational choice - within the context of resources that are ontologically limited and in the hands of individuals who are seeking to maximize their own utility functions. Principles of Law and Economics combines economics and law; it leads the reader through the fascinating paths of private, public and criminal law, interpreting them through the prism of economic analysis.