One of the virtues of Ellickson's approach is that he disaggregates the concept of norms into five kinds of rules. Substantive rules define what conduct is to be rewarded or punished. Remedial rules set out whether reward or punishment is to be applied and what sorts will be employed. Procedural rules determine how those who impose sanctions will gather information and weigh it. Constitutive rules establish the internal struc- tures of the governors of the system.
Distinct calculations govern the invocation of each set of rules.
Ellickson fills his book with fascinating detail about disputing practices together with clearly written expositions of game theoretical models. He systematizes much of the work in the law and society movement about disputing. Yet this reader continues to have nagging doubts about how much in the end is captured by the web he spins. A key variable for Ellickson is whether a group is tightly knit or not. Yet nowhere does he propose how we distinguish the tightly knit from the not so tightly knit groups and where the breakpoint between them might occur.