This paper examines the level of generality and specificity of the city planning and building law and its predecessors in Sweden (from now on abbreviated PBL[1])  from 1874 to 2010. The aim is to explore whether Jarrick and Bondesson’s theory that laws tend to be more general in formulation the more advanced the society becomes also holds for markets. 

 By coding every law issue[2] in every law section in every PBL (the most important law regulating public and private ownership of real estate and city development) from 1874 to 2010 as either “general”, “specific”, or “middle” in formulation this paper shows an evolution of law formulation in regard to precision and demarcation. The category “general” concerns a formulation that is abstract, holistic, and open to numerous interpretations; the category “specific” refers to a formulation that is concrete, defined and that can only be interpreted in one way. The category “middle” is in between these extremes.

  This method is inspired by Jarrick and Bondesson in their examination of law formulation in constitutions over a period of 4000 years, which suggests that young non-complex societies have a high ratio of specific law formulation and that the laws tend to become more general the more complex and developed a society becomes. 

This study finds that the general and especially the middle category expanded relative to the specific category during the investigated period, which lends some support to Jarrick’s and Bondesson’s hypothesis – while also indicating that this evolution moves faster in markets than in whole societies. The share of law issues belonging to the specific category reached a peak in 1874 and 1907, radically decreased in 1931 and 1947, and increased slightly in 1987 and 2010. The middle category had the opposite trend line. The general category was only represented by 10 percent of law issues in 1874, which more than doubled in 2010. Also, the number of law issues radically increased during the period. 

These results are also related to theories of rationalization and bureaucratization. Less complex societies have more specific rules, which are more straightforward for agents to navigate, and do not require a large bureaucracy. The transformation toward a more complex society generates the adoption of more general rules, but also a growth in the number of rules and a bureaucracy that rises to administer these rules, especially to resolve various uncertainties. This process of rationalization and bureaucratization also entails a suffocation of small-scale initiatives and entrepreneurship, which in turn lays the foundation for future creative destruction of the institutional framework and established organizations. However, in Sweden such a transformation in the area of PBL has not yet occurred. Instead, a type of institutional stagnation can be observed for the period 1947 to 2010, following a period of volatility and dynamics between 1874 and 1947.

 [1] In this paper PBL not only refers to the PBL of 1987 and 2010 but also its predesserssors from 1874, 1907, 1931, 1947 (which was not called PBL at the time of their fomulation and implementation).

[2] A law issue is a part of a law section that regulates one phenomenon.