This paper generalises the classical Condorcet jury theorem from majority voting over two options to plurality voting over multiple options. The paper further discusses the debate between epistemic and procedural democracy and situates its formal results in that debate. The paper finally compares a number of different social choice procedures for many-option choices in terms of their epistemic merits. An appendix explores the implications of some of the present mathematical results for the question of how probable majority cycles (as in (...) Condorcet's paradox) are in large electorates. (shrink)

This essay describes modern American legal pragmatism. Its origins in pragmatist philosophy are traced, and it is compared with the law and economics movement in American law and the formalist style of Continental legal theory. The essay argues that the inevitability of legal pragmatism in America, and its dispensability in Europe, reflect fundamental institutional and cultural differences rather than mere accidents of history or legal thought.