Outsourcing the law : A philosophical perspective on regulation / Pauline Westerman, University of Groningen and Academy for Legislation The Hague, the Netherlands.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface -- Introduction -- The structure of rules -- Between compliance and performance -- Commissioned self-regulation -- Outsourcing democracy -- The limited role of the judiciary -- Legal research and the empirical turn -- A rule of outsourced law -- A contagious style.

"Not only can services such as cleaning and catering be outsourced, but also governmental tasks such as making, applying and enforcing the law. Outsourcing the law is usually recommended for its cost-efficiency, flexibility, higher rates of compliance and its promise of deregulation. However, lawmaking is not the same as cleaning and rules are more than just tools to achieve aims. Outsourcing the law brings about profound changes in the way power is distributed. [The author] analyzes this outsourcing from a philosophical perspective. [This book] analyzes the particular types of rules to which outsourcing gives rise (performance-indicators), as well as the techniques that are used (benchmarking, auditing) and identifies the key-implications of these shifts for democracy, the rule of law, judicial decision-making and even for how legal research is carried out."-- Back cover.