University of Miami Law Review
Abstract
In her powerful new book, Katharina Pistor, grounded in the argument that capitalism is a legal regime, outlines a pathway beyond capitalist law: the transformation of private law in accordance with constitutional principles and the human capabilities approach. This short essay questions whether existing constitutions and the capabilities approach have the normative resources to overcome capitalism. Given existing corporate power entrenched in private rights, the paper also wonders who could be effective and legitimate agents of change able to transform private law into post-capitalist law. It suggests that nothing less than a revolution is needed to overcome capitalist private law and proposes two non-violent, radically democratic revolutionary practices as more promising pathways: non-reformist reforms, which aim to empower those currently dominated by capitalism and other intersecting structures of domination, and prefigurative (non)private law practices, as adopted by anti-capitalist communities and movements.
Recommended Citation
Martijn W. Hesselink, Beyond Capitalist Law: A Commentary on Katharina Pistor, The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It, 80 U. Mia. L. Rev. 569 (2026).