Abstract
For nearly two decades diverse schools of tort theory have attempted to reduce liability for personal injuries to a few basic principles.1 Calabresi advocates the principle of minimizing the total cost of accidents and accident avoidance;2 Posner advocates the principle of encouraging those activities whose benefits outweight their cross.3 Epstein endorses a system of tort law in which causing harm is a sufficient condition for liability.4 My own work is read as advocacy of “non-reciprocal rsik-taking” as a standard of liability.5
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References
Izhak Englard, ‘The System Builders: A Critical Appraisal of Modern American Tort Theory,’ Journal of Legal Studies 9 (1980): 27–69.
Guido Calabresi, The Costs of Accidents ( New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970 ).
Richard Posner, Economic Analysis of Law, 2nd ed. ( Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1977 ), pp. 119–59.
R. Epstein, ‘A Theory of Strict Liability’ Journal of Legal Studies (1973): 151, reprinted along with related essays in R. Epstein, A Theory of Strict Liability (San Francisco: Cato Institute, 1980); hereinafter “Epstein”
R. Epstein, ‘A Theory of Strict Liability’ Journal of Legal Studies (1973): 151, reprinted along with related essays in R. Epstein, A Theory of Strict Liability (San Francisco: Cato Institute, 1980); hereinafter “Epstein”
Fletcher, ‘Fairness and Utility in Tort Theory,’ Harvard Law Review 85 (1972): 537–73; hereinafter “Fletcher.”
I. Kant, The Metaphysical Elements of Justice, tr. John Ladd (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965 ), pp. 105–6.
Charles Fried’s theory of the “risk pool” in C. Fried, An Anatomy of Values (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970), pp. 177–93.
O. Holmes, The Common Law ( Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1881 ), p. 15.
A. Ehrenzweig, ‘Negligence Without Fault’ (1951), reprinted in 54 Calif. L. Rev. 1422 (1965).
J. Coleman, ‘Justice and Reciprocity in Tort Theory,’ Western Ontario Law Review 14 (1975): 105.
Robert E. Keeton, Legal Cause in the Law of Torts ( Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1963 ).
V. Schwartz, Comparative Negligence I (1974 & Supp. 1978) (in period from 1950 to 1977, number of states adopting comparative negligence increased from 5 to 32).
E. Deutsch, Haftungsrecht ( Köln: Carl Heymanns, 1976 ), pp. 387–400.
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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Fletcher, G.P. (1983). The Search for Synthesis in Tort Theory. In: Bayles, M.D., Chapman, B. (eds) Justice, Rights, and Tort Law. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7203-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7203-2_4
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