litigation-over 'top down'regulation and enforcement through government agencies in civilian systems. A second hypothesis(the political'claim)focuses on the greater independence accorded to the judiciary under common law than civilian systems.The Napoleonic Code in particular seeks to enshrine constitutionally the primacy of the legislature over other branches of government;the legislature also controls judicial appointments and tenure.In contrast,the judiciary in common law systems typically have greater ability to review the legitimacy of executive acts, and the terms and processes of their appointments give them greater independence.These differences,it is thought,will make common law judges less susceptible to influence by the legislature,and better able to protect individual property rights from rent-seeking activity by the state (Mahoney, 2001;Rajan and Zingales,2003). 2.2 The quality of law'claim and its limitations Indices have been constructed by La Porta et al for a range of different aspects of the law relating to business organisation.In the approximate order in which these were published,they include: G) Shareholder rights (as against company directors-'antidirector rights'-and as against majority shareholders-'minority protection') and creditor rights (LLSV,1997,1998) (ii) Regulations governing firm start-up (Djankov et al,2002) (iii） Contract enforcement (Djankov et al,2003) (iv) Securities regulation (La Porta et al,2006) (V) Labour regulation (Botero et al,2004) (vi)Public creditor protection mechanisms (overlapping with the earlier 'creditor rights')(Djankov et al.,2007). (vii)Self-dealing rules (overlapping with the earlier 'antidirector rights') (Djankov et al,2008). (viii)Bankruptcy procedures (overlapping with the earlier 'creditor rights') (Djankov et al,2007). The methodology has evolved over time,so that a number of limitations in the earlier studies have been ameliorated.However,significant unresolved issues remain. First,for any index to render a meaningful representation of the comparative qualities of underlying legal rules,it is essential that the coding should be accurate and consistent:that is,the numbers used to signify the presence or 44 litigation—over ‘top down’ regulation and enforcement through government agencies in civilian systems. A second hypothesis (the ‘political’ claim) focuses on the greater independence accorded to the judiciary under common law than civilian systems. The Napoleonic Code in particular seeks to enshrine constitutionally the primacy of the legislature over other branches of government; the legislature also controls judicial appointments and tenure. In contrast, the judiciary in common law systems typically have greater ability to review the legitimacy of executive acts, and the terms and processes of their appointments give them greater independence. These differences, it is thought, will make common law judges less susceptible to influence by the legislature, and better able to protect individual property rights from rent-seeking activity by the state (Mahoney, 2001; Rajan and Zingales, 2003). 2.2 The ‘quality of law’ claim and its limitations Indices have been constructed by La Porta et al for a range of different aspects of the law relating to business organisation. In the approximate order in which these were published, they include: (i) Shareholder rights (as against company directors—’antidirector rights’—and as against majority shareholders—’minority protection’) and creditor rights (LLSV, 1997, 1998) (ii) Regulations governing firm start-up (Djankov et al, 2002) (iii) Contract enforcement (Djankov et al, 2003) (iv) Securities regulation (La Porta et al, 2006) (v) Labour regulation (Botero et al, 2004) (vi) Public creditor protection mechanisms (overlapping with the earlier ‘creditor rights’) (Djankov et al., 2007). (vii) Self-dealing rules (overlapping with the earlier ‘antidirector rights’) (Djankov et al, 2008). (viii) Bankruptcy procedures (overlapping with the earlier ‘creditor rights’) (Djankov et al, 2007). The methodology has evolved over time, so that a number of limitations in the earlier studies have been ameliorated. However, significant unresolved issues remain. First, for any index to render a meaningful representation of the comparative qualities of underlying legal rules, it is essential that the coding should be accurate and consistent: that is, the numbers used to signify the presence or