VOLUME 85 APRIL 1972 nUMBeR 6 HARVARD LAW REVIEW PROPERTY RULES, LIABILITY RULES AND INALIENABILITY ONE VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL Guido calabresi and A douglas melamed s Professor Calabresi and Mr. Melamed develop a framework fe ve serves to integrate various legal relationships which are traditionally analyzed in separate subject areas such as Property and Tort using their model to suggest solutions to the pollution probler writers in the field, and by applying the model to the question criminal sanctions, they demonstrate the utility of such an integrated approach I. INTRODUCTION O NLY rarely are Property and Torts approached from a uni- fied perspective. Recent writings by lawyers concerned with economics and by economists concerned with law suggest, how ever, that an attempt at integrating the various legal relationships treated by these subjects would be useful both for the beginning student and the sophisticated scholar By articulating a concept of entitlements"which are protected by property, liability, or inalienability rules, we present one framework for such an ap- proach. We then analyze aspects of the pollution problem and of John Thomas Smith Professor of Law, Yale University. B.S. Yale, 1953; B, A. xford, I955; LL. B. Yale, I958; M A. Oxford, I959 * Member of the District of Columbia Bar. B A. Yale uni 1967: J D Harvard University, 197o See, e.g., Michelman, Pollution as a Tort: A Non-Accidental Perspective on Calabrest's CosTS, So YALE L.J. 647(1971)(analysis of three alternative rules in ollution problems); Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights, 57 AxE. CON. REv. 347(1967)(Vol. 2-Papers and Proceedings)(analysis of property ermalization which ignores liability rule alternatives a Since a fully integrated approach is probably impossible, it should be empha- d that this article concerns only one possible way of looking at and analyzin legal problems. Thus we shall not address ourselves to those fundamental legal questions which center on what institutions and what procedures are most suitable for making what decisions, except insofar as these relate directly to the problem of selecting the initial entitlements and the modes of protecting these entitlements. While we do not underrate the importance, indeed perhaps the primacy, of legal process considerations, see pp. III6-17 infra, we are merely interested in the light HeinOnline 85 Harv. L Rev. 10891971-1972VOLUME 85 APRIL 1972 NUMBER 6 HARVARD LAW REVIEW PROPERTY RULES, LIABILITY RULES, AND INALIENABILITY: ONE VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL Guido Calabresi * and A. Douglas Melamed Professor Calabresi and Mr. Melamed develop a framework for legal analysis which they believe serves to integrate various legal relationships which are traditionally analyzed in separate subject areas such as Property and Torts. By using their model to suggest solutions to the pollution problem that have been overlooked by writers in the field, and by applying the model to the question of criminal sanctions, they demonstrate the utility of such an integrated approach. I. INTRODUCTION O NLY rarely are Property and Torts approached from a uni￾fied perspective. Recent writings by lawyers concerned with economics and by economists concerned with law suggest, how￾ever, that an attempt at integrating the various legal relationships treated by these subjects would be useful both for the beginning student and the sophisticated scholar.' By articulating a concept of "entitlements" which are protected by property, liability, or inalienability rules, we present one framework for such an ap￾proach.2 We then analyze aspects of the pollution problem and of * John Thomas Smith Professor of Law, Yale University. B.S. Yale, i953; B.A. Oxford, T955; LL.B. Yale, 1958; M.A. Oxford, 1959. ** Member of the District of Columbia Bar. B.A. Yale University, 1967; J.D. Harvard University, 1970. See, e.g., Michelman, Pollution as a Tort: A Non-Accidental Perspective on Calabresi's Costs, So YAL_ L.J. 647 (1971) (analysis of three alternative rules in pollution problems); Demsetz, Toward a Theory of Property Rights, 57 Am. EcoN. REv. 347 (1967) (Vol. 2 -Papers and Proceedings) (analysis of property as a means of cost internalization which ignores liability rule alternatives). 2 Since a fully integrated approach is probably impossible, it should be empha￾sized that this article concerns only one possible way of looking at and analyzing legal problems. Thus we shall not address ourselves to those fundamental legal questions which center on what institutions and what procedures are most suitable for making what decisions, except insofar as these relate directly to the problems of selecting the initial entitlements and the modes of protecting these entitlements. While we do not underrate the importance, indeed perhaps the primacy, of legal process considerations, see pp. 1116-17 infra, we are merely interested in the light 1089 HeinOnline -- 85 Harv. L. Rev. 1089 1971-1972