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Working Rules and Commons

On page 134 of the Legal Foundations of Capitalism (section VI), Commons focuses on the idea of working rules.  He first states that the human will operates within certain limits and within these limits there is a degree of opportunity within which we can operate.  Working rules are defined as "collective will", "social mind" or " government of laws and not men".  Commons acknowledges  that there are other rules including mechanism and scarcity.  Mechanism and scarcity operate through physics and the reality of a limited amount of resources between humans and the natural world.  Working rules is the relationship between human beings not mediated by mechanism and scarcity.

Commons is critical of the idea that we start with individual liberty and freedom that are pre-existing rights and then move towards what rules will respect these pre-existing rights from nature. Instead. Commons finds that the working rules are established by human beings to mediate conflict.  The working rules main focus is to promote peace and cooperation and not to protect rights.  These rules in fact tell the individual what they can, cannot, must, may and may not do.  These verbs are crucial to understanding the operation of working rules.

These working rules change slowly time and evolve as conflicts are resolved.  The rules are observed as people and going concerns act in the world.  They assist in individuals thing through the future actions of themselves and others and how transactions will occur. There is much more to say about working rules but they are crucial to understanding Commons way of thinking.  The working rules have an existence external to human beings in his writings but can only be expressed through the behavior of those participants.


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