The Intellectual Property of Nations
Sociological and Historical Perspectives on a Modern Legal Institution

This sweeping sociological analysis traces the emergence of intellectual property as a new type of legal property.

Laura R. Ford (Author)

9781316648483, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 May 2021

300 pages
15 x 23 x 2.5 cm, 0.62 kg

'... This book is a work of art, that reads like a novel, but blows your mind like a documentary on a topic that you thought you were already schooled in! The book will appeal to any reader interested in broadening their contextual understanding of intellectual property, as well as those considering the globalised future of IP.' Hayleigh Bosher, The IPKat blog (https://ipkitten.blogspot.com/)

Drawing on macro-historical sociological theories, this book traces the development of intellectual property as a new type of legal property in the modern nation-state system. In its current form, intellectual property is considered part of an infrastructure of state power that incentivizes innovation, creativity, and scientific development, all engines of economic growth. To show how this infrastructure of power emerged, Laura Ford follows macro-historical social theorists, including Michael Mann and Max Weber, back to antiquity, revealing that legal instruments very similar to modern intellectual property have existed for a long time and have also been deployed for similar purposes. Using comparative and historical evidence, this groundbreaking work reflects on the role of intellectual property in our contemporary political communities and societies; on the close relationship between law and religion; and on the extent to which law's obliging force depends on ancient, written traditions.

Introduction
1. Legal Institutions and Social Power: Setting the Stage
2. Legal Orders and Social Performance: Founding Facebook
3. Instruments of Legal Power in the Roman Republic
4. Semantic Legal Ordering: Idealizing Roman Law
5. Cultural Transformations: Christianizing Legal Power
6. Privileges and Immunities in a Sacramentalizing Order
7. Administrative Kingship and Covenantal Bonds: Early Roots of Intellectual Property in England
8. Intellectual Property in a Nationalizing Order
9. Cultural Transformations: Naturalizing Intellectual Property
10. Semantic Legal Ordering: Idealizing Intellectual Property
11. Instruments of Legal Power in the American Republic
12. Legal Institutions and Social Performance: Founding a Global Order
Conclusion – The Intellectual Property of Nations.

Subject Areas: Intellectual property law [LNR], Legal history [LAZ], Law & society [LAQ], Comparative law [LAM], Economic history [KCZ], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA], Sociology [JHB]