Abstract

Pistor book’s main idea is that capital needs a legal code to work. This legal code in different forms has mostly shaped privileges, protection and safe harbors for capital, while establishing winners and losers in the economic legal game. The book contains a rich collection of stories that show how different the forms of capital can be and how important the legal mint on them is especially in nowadays capitalism. But today the legal touch is not anymore coming from states but from private «masters of the code»: professional legal experts that create «portable law», serving the interests of strong economic and financial forces.