In the U.S.A. juridical problems concerning science are singular in nature: the entrepreneurial and competitive character of the most significant part of scientific organization there would appear to leave defenseless traditional values of the freedom, autonomy and universality of science, but it is likewise true that this science market constitutes a laboratory of extraordinary interest for identifying new dimensions of such values.The essays published in this volume are representative of current debate in the U.S.A., including the relative tensions present. The essays deal with the increasing interdependence of science and economic interests (D. Nelkin), public funding of research (R. Merges), the centrality of the constitutional values of freedom (B. Neuborne), the non-profit organization model (J. Simon), and the experience of a major U.S. university (Steiner). The essays and ample appendix of legislative documentation provide a useful tool for understanding the phenomenon not only for the jurist, but for anyone interested in the institutional problems of scientific research.