At the close of the 18th and start of the 19th century, the diverse thinkers Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Alexis de Tocqueville confronted dramatic transformations in civic life—economic, political, and social—with distinctive blends of theory, system, and empirical observation. Beyond the seismic impact of their work, each in his own way also noted the important role of custom, institutions, and practices alongside legal arrangements in determining the workings and success of these developments. In his Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations, Smith traces the role and proper place not only of self-interest but also the natural sentiment of sympathy in our economic and social life. Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France faults the revolution’s violations of customs, experience, and religion for preference of democratic equality and rationalism and anticipates the bloody, dictatorial consequences. And Tocqueville draws attention to the powerful role of social characteristics and beliefs in the vitality of the young American democracy. This course will engage students deeply in the details of these landmark studies as well as reflection on this common insight on the inadequacy of law alone in stable, just, and prosperous societies.