IGNACIO ADRIAN LERER has posted The Legislator as Extended Phenotype: A Darwinian Theory of Legal Evolution on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Background: Legal theory often assumes legislators consciously design laws to solve social problems. Drawing on Dawkins’ (1982) concept of the extended phenotype, this paper challenges the Lamarckian assumption in legal scholarship and proposes a Darwinian framework: legislators function primarily as vehicles for replicating pre-existing legal “memes” whose survival depends on environmental fitness.
Methods/Approach: The analysis combines: (1) Autobiographical case study—Argentina’s 1981-1987 mortgage crisis, observed first-hand, illustrating memetic competition between pacta sunt servanda and rebus sic stantibus; (2) Comparative historical analysis—Three generational responses to currency-related credit crises (1981-1987, 2001-2003, 2016-2024); (3) Theoretical synthesis—Integration of cultural evolution theory, political epistemology, and memetics into a generalizable model of legal change.
Findings: Legislators’ apparent intentionality masks the selective expression of memes with higher contextual fitness. Argentine legal responses evolved from judicial paralysis (1981) to mass emergency intervention (2001) to preventive judicial-legislative mechanisms (2020s). The “fitness balance” between contract sanctity and adaptive modification memes shifted toward equilibrium over four decades.
Implications: Legal convergence can occur without coordination when similar environments select for similar memes. Predicting legal change requires analyzing memetic fitness landscapes, not solely political intent. Legal education should incorporate memetic literacy to improve reform design within evolutionary constraints.
Original Contribution: Proposes the “Legislator as Extended Phenotype” model, extending Dawkins’ biological framework to legal evolution, and grounding it in an empirically illustrated, longitudinal case.