Observations on the legal theory of finance

This is a comment on 'Towards a legal theory of finance' by Katharina Pistor. It notes that both law and money are complex and controversial phenomena. They have to be treated as historically specific institutions that arise in the context of fundamental uncertainty. The historical origins of both are briefly considered. It is argued that fundamental uncertainty in the Knight-Keynes sense has been marginalised in modern economics and this creates problems for the theory of money. The comment also expands on the notion of 'essential hybridity' - which signals that money and law are a result of both private arrangements and state intervention. Journal of Comparative Economics 41 (2) (2013) 331-337. Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, UK. (C) 2013 Association for Comparative Economic Studies Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.