Author Description

The Law Of Torts Is Fundamental. Any Mature Legal System Must Contain A Body Of Law Addressing What We Owe In The Way Of Obligations To Respect Each Other's Physical And Psychological Integrity, Property, Privacy, Freedom Of Action, Reputation, And So On. If People Were Free To Injure And Interfere With One Another In Any Way That They Wished, We Would Still Be In A State Of Nature. Yet If The Law Of Torts Is Fundamental, It Is Also Elusive. One Hundred And Fifty Years Ago, Oliver Wendell Holmes Opined That Tort Law Was Not A Proper Subject For A Law Book. Holmes Soon Changed His Mind, But To This Day, Leading Torts Scholars Assert That The Law Of Torts Is So Fundamentally Fragmented That The Only Adequate Way To Describe The Field Is To Say That It Encompasses Some Civil Wrongs That Do Not Arise Out Of Contract. This Book Argues That The Law Of Torts Is A Fundamental Legal Institution Because It Establishes An Essential Form Of Justice Among Persons. Tort Is About What It Is That We Owe To Each Other In The Way Of Reciprocal Responsibilities Not To Interfere With, Or Impair, Essential Interests That We Possess Simply Because We Are Persons. Tort Law's Rhetoric Of Reasonableness Thus Reveals Its Fundamental Moral Commitment. Tort Law Seeks To Impose Responsibilities Not To Impair Or Interfere With Each Other's Urgent Interests On Terms That Are Justifiable Both To Those Protected, And To Those Burdened, By Its Terms--