Justice Rights And Tort Law

The essays in this volume are the result of a project on Values in Tort Law directed by the Westminster Institute for Ethics and Human Values. We are indebted to the Board of Westminster Col lege for its financial support. The project involved two meetings of a mixed group of lawyers and philosophers to discuss drafts of papers and general issues in tort law. Beyond the principal researchers, whose papers appear here, we are grateful to John Bargo, Dick Bronaugh, Craig Brown, Earl Cherniak, Bruce Feldthusen, Barry Hoffmaster and Steve Sharzer for their helpful discussion, and to Nancy Margolis for copy editing. All of these papers except one have appeared before in the journal Law and Philosophy (Vol. 1 No.3, December 1982 and Vol. 2 No.1, Apri11983). Chapman's paper which was previously published in The University of Western Ontario Law Review (Vol. 20 No.1, 1982) appears here with permission. Westminster Institute for Ethics and Human Values, M.D.B. Westminster College, London, Canada B.C. vii INTRODUCTION The law of torts is society's primary mechanism for resolving disputes arising from personal injury and property damage.

"Civil wrongs occupy a significant place in private law. They are particularly prominent in tort law, but equally have a place in contract law, property and intellectual property law, unjust enrichment, fiduciary law, and in equity more broadly. For example, some tort theorists maintain that tort law is best understood as a (or perhaps the) law of civil wrongs and some contract law theorists maintain that breach of contract is a civil wrong. Civil wrongs are also a preoccupation of leading general theories of private law, including corrective justice and civil recourse theories. According to these and other theories, the centrality of civil wrongs to civil liability shows that private law is fundamentally concerned with the expression and enforcement of norms of justice appropriate to interpersonal interaction and association. Others, sounding notes of caution or criticism, argue that a preoccupation with wrongs and remedies has meant neglect of other ways in which private law serves justice, and ways in which private law serves values other than justice. The present volume comprises original papers written by a wide variety of legal theorists and philosophers exploring the nature of civil wrongs, their place in private law, and their relationship to other forms of wrongdoing. It should be of broad interest to lawyers and legal theorists as well as moral and political theorists"--

The catalyst for this volume was a request to Scott (York U. Law School, Toronto) from Sudanese exiles for advice on transnational avenues for seeking justice against members of their government. The 26 contributions address the frames and foundations of human rights cases; jurisdiction and immunity; choice of law and causes of action; evolving international law on recourse against non-state actors; legitimacy, intervention, and forging of national histories; and the borders of tort theory. Includes tables of cases and legislation. Appends the UN Convention Against Torture, the US code on Alien Tort Claims and Torture Victims Protection Act, provisions of Private International Law (UK, 1995), and an update on developments related to the discussion of the Pinochet case. Distributed in the US by ISBS. c. Book News Inc.

This book argues, from a normative perspective, for the incorporation of an egalitarian sensitivity into tort law, and more generally, into private law. It shows how an egalitarian sensitivity can reformulate tort doctrine, with an emphasis on the tort of negligence.

Private law governs our most pervasive relationships with other people: the wrongs we do to one another, the property we own and exclude from others' use, the contracts we make and break, and the benefits realized at another's expense that we cannot justly retain. The major rules of private law are well known, but how they are organized, explained, and justified is a matter of fierce debate by lawyers, economists, and philosophers. Ernest Weinrib made a seminal contribution to the understanding of private law with his first book, The Idea of Private Law. In it, he argued that there is a special morality intrinsic to private law: the morality of corrective justice. By understanding the nature of corrective justice we understand the purpose of private law - which is simply to be private law. In this book Weinrib takes up and develops his account of corrective justice, its nature, and its role in understanding the law. He begins by setting out the conceptual components of corrective justice, drawing a model of a moral relationship between two equals and the rights and duties that exist between them. He then explains the significance of corrective justice for various legal contexts: for the grounds of liability in negligence, contract, and unjust enrichment; for the relationship between right and remedy; for legal education; for the comparative understanding of private law; and for the compatibility of corrective justice with state support for the poor. Combining legal and philosophical analysis, Corrective Justice integrates a concrete and wide-ranging treatment of legal doctrine with a unitary and comprehensive set of theoretical ideas. Alongside the revised edition of The Idea of Private Law, it is essential reading for all academics, lawyers, and students engaged in understanding the foundations of private law.

This is a completely revised and expanded second edition, building on the first edition with two principal aims: to elucidate the role that domestic tort principles play in securing to citizens the human rights standards laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights, including the new 'remedy' under the Human Rights Act 1998; and to evaluate tort principles for compliance with those standards. The first edition was written when the Human Rights Act 1998 was newly enacted and many questions existed as to its potential impact on tort law. Answers to many of the questions, which were raised at that time, are only now emerging. Therefore, the text has been updated to reflect these developments. Whether it is appropriate to attribute particular goals and functions to tort law is highly contested and the analysis begins by locating the discussion within these contemporary debates. The author goes on to examine the extent to which the action against public authorities under section 7 of the Act has impacted on the development of common law principles, as well as the issue of horizontal effect of the Act between non-state actors. New chapters include: 'A Human Rights Based Approach to Tort Law' and 'Public Authority Liability and Privacy – From Misuse of Private Information to Autonomy.'

Inspired by the contemporary debate over tort reform, Justice and Tort Law examines the moral structure and content of tort law to determine whether this movement is good or bad, and to offer insights into the law's uncertain future. Calnan's book presents a liberal account of tort law that is both positive and normative and provides a comprehensive theory and analysis of the justice of tort law. This approach looks beyond the notion of corrective justice and examines concepts of distributive and retributive justice and reciprocity. In presenting his ideas, Calnan explains the distributive nature of all laws, and tort law in particular. This book will especially be of interest to scholars and attorneys interested in tort law reform, but also to professors and practitioners interested in liability law, corrective justice, criminal law, and torts.