short in capacity and ability, in which case I cannot choose, regardless of
whether the market makes choice available to me.
Legally, the capacity to choose is linked to the right to own property and
enter into contracts. The market is a system of legally voluntary contracts.
This means that each party is legally free to buy what is offered or pass it up
for something else or nothing at all. The legal status conferred by society on
adults protects them from being coerced to buy or sell against their will.
Making the contract an act of will in the legal sense makes it a freely undertaken decision, a kind of choice. Because markets consist of voluntary contracts between property owners, they incorporate the status that implies the
legal capacity to choose.