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Abstract: Law and economics is seen as having both a descriptive and a normative dimension. This article considers the normative dimension of that theory, which argues that the principle of wealth maximization ought to guide adjudication. This article assesses whether wealth maximization is a proper normative principle. It argues that, whatever its merits as a descriptive principle, the principle of wealth maximization faces grave problems in all of the various normative uses to which it is put. In some of its applications, the principle initially seems challenging and exciting but proves on examination to be unacceptable. In its other applications, it is clearly correct but also clearly trivial.
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