May be of interest to historians of liberty like laughing-man and lilburne,and to those people interested in the economics and history of private production of law and enforcement
http://www.biblioteca.ufm.edu.gt/apee/pdf/999610.pdf.
Conclusion
< Although there may be good reason to worry that in a complicated stock market there are greater chances of fraud, it seems clear that there was no missing market in this realm. Rather than relying on public regulation to enforce contracts, brokers consciously found a way to solve this dilemma by creating and enforcing a system of private rules. Since it was their goal to promote trade, the interest of the members was aligned with the interest of its customers. It was their ability to experiment and their need to attract business that allowed for the discovery of better ways of organizing and selfregulating. Under laissez faire, firms and clubs, such as the London Stock Exchange, can choose to organize in any way they wish, and those thatfind successful ways of operating will flourish.18 Since the London Stock Exchange did not have a legal monopoly, it needed to make sure that its existence was beneficial. Dennis Carlton writes, AIt is useful to view exchanges as competing (or potentially competing) with each other. As in other markets, competition is a substitute for regulation. The more competition there is, the more likely it is that exchanges themselves will promulgate rules and regulations that benefit and protect consumers in much the same ways as competition in other markets protects consumers@ (Carlton, 1984:259). When exchanges are free to organize without government regulation it allows for the discovery process of the market to operate. In their quest for more profits, brokers will have the incentive to discover better ways of self-policing. The evolution of the London Stock Exchange provides evidence that beneficial regulations can be created through the market.
Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid
Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring
It's a shame this isn't getting much attention, it's a really good recommendation.
Other Stringham papers of interest: here and here. There's more over at his webpage for anybody interested.
"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"
Bob Dylan