Tort Law (tort + law)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Philosophical Issues in Tort Law

PHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2008
John Oberdiek
The union of contemporary philosophy and tort law has never been better. Perhaps the most dynamic current in contemporary tort theory concerns the increasingly sophisticated inquires into the doctrinal elements of the law of torts, with the tort of negligence in particular garnering the most attention from theorists. In this article, I examine philosophically rich issues revolving around each of the elements constituting the tort of negligence: compensable injury, duty, breach, actual cause, and proximate cause. [source]


Toxic Torts, Politics, and Environmental Justice: The Case for Crimtorts,

LAW & POLICY, Issue 2 2004
THOMAS H. KOENIG
The borderline between criminal and tort law has been increasingly blurred over the past quarter century by the emergence of new "crimtort" remedies which have evolved to deter and punish corporate polluters. Punitive damages, multiple damages, and other "crimtort" remedies are under unrelenting assault by neo-conservatives principally because, under this paradigm, the punishment for wrongdoing can be calibrated to the wealth of the polluter. If wealth-based punishment is eliminated by the "tort reformers," plaintiffs' victories in crimtort actions such as those portrayed in the movies Silkwood, A Class Action, and Erin Brockovich will become an endangered species. [source]


Transferred malice in tort law?

LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2009
Allan Beever
Should the doctrine of transferred malice operate in the law of tort? Although there has been little written on this topic in England and Wales, it appears generally to have been accepted by academic commentators that the answer to this question is in the affirmative. Consequently, when the High Court in Bici v Ministry of Defence applied the doctrine to the tort of battery, most regarded this as unremarkable. This paper, however, argues that this position is mistaken: that the doctrine of transferred malice has, and can have, no place in the law of tort. The paper also examines the nature of intention operative in the law of trespass and its relationship with recklessness. [source]


Tort, regulation and environmental liability

LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 1 2002
Maria Lee
This paper considers certain proposals made by the European Commission on environmental liability, particularly in its White Paper on Environmental Liability. Civil liability has made a relatively minor contribution to environmental policy in recent decades, given its many well-known shortcomings when applied to environmental problems. Its usefulness, however, is being reassessed, given something of a consensus that traditional forms of regulation are reaching the limits of their effectiveness and that new approaches to environmental law are necessary. This paper will consider how the White Paper would move beyond the limitations of existing civil liability frameworks, in particular the fundamental incompatibility between the interests recognised in English tort law and the interests at stake in environmental protection. The Commission's recent retreat from the more ambitious elements of the White Paper may be a matter of concern. [source]


Philosophical Issues in Tort Law

PHILOSOPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 4 2008
John Oberdiek
The union of contemporary philosophy and tort law has never been better. Perhaps the most dynamic current in contemporary tort theory concerns the increasingly sophisticated inquires into the doctrinal elements of the law of torts, with the tort of negligence in particular garnering the most attention from theorists. In this article, I examine philosophically rich issues revolving around each of the elements constituting the tort of negligence: compensable injury, duty, breach, actual cause, and proximate cause. [source]


The Ancillary-Care Responsibilities of Researchers: Reasonable But Not Great Expectations

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 4 2007
Roger Brownsword
This paper argues that, in a community of rights, the prima facie responsibilities of researchers to attend to the ancillary-care needs of their participants would be determined by a four-stage test (relating to placement, capacity, reasonable imposition, and fair demand). This test, it is suggested, sets a standard (and an example) for common law courts that are invited to recognize the ancillary-care responsibilities of researchers, whether as a matter of contract or tort law. [source]


A Tort-Based Approach to Damages under the Human Rights Act 1998

THE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 5 2009
Jason N. E. Varuhas
This article argues that a strong case can be made for departing from the current approach to damages under the Human Rights Act 1998, and for the adoption of an alternative tort-based approach. The article critically analyses the English courts' arguments against adopting a tort-based approach and demonstrates that neither the Act nor the European Convention on Human Rights militate against such approach. It makes a positive case for a tort-based approach, arguing that the law of damages in tort provides an appropriate model for damages under the Act as a matter of principle given the common functions and protected interests that underpin both areas of the law. Further, tort law offers an established and elaborate corpus of principles to draw on, which can readily and naturally be read across to the human rights context. A tort-based approach would also promote consistency across English law, while generally affording greater protection to human rights than the English courts' current approach. [source]