No law without a state

► We examine variation in judicial institutions, financial laws, and quality of institutions on 31 OECD states. ► We critique Legal Origins Theory (LOT) both theoretically and empirically. ► We provide an alternative theory “State Origins Theory”, coding state infrastructures as “bureaucratic” or “patrimonial”. ► We test the two theories side by side and find that State Origins Theory has more empirical explanatory power. ► States with bureaucratic infrastructures have better overall government institutions compared with patrimonial.