Zum Hauptinhalt springen Zur Suche springen Zur Hauptnavigation springen
Beschreibung

In most countries, bureaucratic agencies handle regulatory enforcement. But the United States does things differently. Embedded in statutes governing consumer protection, antitrust, employment, civil rights, and the environment are more than 10,000 "private rights of action" – legal provisions that empower ordinary citizens and their lawyers to enforce the law through lawsuits. This is how Americans regulate everything from wage theft to air pollution to corporate fraud.

How Americans Enforce the Law tells the story of this distinctively American approach to governance. Diego Zambrano reveals that private enforcement is not a modern innovation but an inherited tradition dating to medieval English "penal statutes" that colonial America adopted and intensified. The book traces how this system evolved through critical junctures and was boosted by twentieth-century procedural innovations like broad discovery rules and class actions that transformed scattered statutory clauses into a mass-litigation engine.

This is the first comprehensive account of private enforcement's origins, operations, and future. Offering both celebration and critique, Zambrano shows why private enforcement works well in employment law, for instance, but has been weaponized in environmental law. He creates a framework for determining when this uniquely American form of governance serves the public interest, and when it can be used to undermine democracy.

In most countries, bureaucratic agencies handle regulatory enforcement. But the United States does things differently. Embedded in statutes governing consumer protection, antitrust, employment, civil rights, and the environment are more than 10,000 "private rights of action" – legal provisions that empower ordinary citizens and their lawyers to enforce the law through lawsuits. This is how Americans regulate everything from wage theft to air pollution to corporate fraud.

How Americans Enforce the Law tells the story of this distinctively American approach to governance. Diego Zambrano reveals that private enforcement is not a modern innovation but an inherited tradition dating to medieval English "penal statutes" that colonial America adopted and intensified. The book traces how this system evolved through critical junctures and was boosted by twentieth-century procedural innovations like broad discovery rules and class actions that transformed scattered statutory clauses into a mass-litigation engine.

This is the first comprehensive account of private enforcement's origins, operations, and future. Offering both celebration and critique, Zambrano shows why private enforcement works well in employment law, for instance, but has been weaponized in environmental law. He creates a framework for determining when this uniquely American form of governance serves the public interest, and when it can be used to undermine democracy.

Über den Autor
Diego A. Zambrano is Professor of Law at Stanford Law School.
Details
Erscheinungsjahr: 2026
Fachbereich: Internationales & ausländ. Recht
Genre: Importe, Recht
Produktart: Nachschlagewerke
Rubrik: Recht & Wirtschaft
Medium: Taschenbuch
ISBN-13: 9781503648395
ISBN-10: 1503648397
Sprache: Englisch
Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert
Autor: Zambrano, Diego
Hersteller: Stanford University Press
Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Mare Nostrum Group B.V., Doelen 72, ?-4831 GR Breda, gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk
Maße: 224 x 147 x 23 mm
Von/Mit: Diego Zambrano
Erscheinungsdatum: 13.10.2026
Gewicht: 0,522 kg
Artikel-ID: 136792628

Ähnliche Produkte