Economic Analysis of Tort and Products Liability Law


Book Description

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.




Liability Law - Economic Analysis of Defective Products


Book Description

Examination Thesis from the year 2005 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: 1,3, University of Augsburg (Prof. Dr. Möllers), course: Seminar, language: English, abstract: Product liability is a field of law which all in all is eco-nomically efficient due to the modifications of the strict liability system, which grants the advantages of the original system, but alleviates some of its disadvantages. Therefore, it must be deemed as generally efficient, although sporadic deviations such as the proliferation of warning, the successful litigation of some plaintiffs despite own negligence and the enor-mous sums of damage granted will go on occurring.




The Economic Structure of Tort Law


Book Description

Written by a lawyer and an economist, this is the first full-length economic study of tort law--the body of law that governs liability for accidents and for intentional wrongs such as battery and defamation. Landes and Posner propose that tort law is best understood as a system for achieving an efficient allocation of resources to safety--that, on the whole, rules and doctrines of tort law encourage the optimal investment in safety by potential injurers and potential victims. The book contains both a comprehensive description of the major doctrines of tort law and a series of formal economic models used to explore the economic properties of these doctrines. All the formal models are translated into simple commonsense terms so that the "math less" reader can follow the text without difficulty; legal jargon is also avoided, for the sake of economists and other readers not trained in the law. Although the primary focus is on explaining existing doctrines rather than on exploring their implementation by juries, insurance adjusters, and other "real world" actors, the book has obvious pertinence to the ongoing controversies over damage awards, insurance rates and availability, and reform of tort law-in fact it is an essential prerequisite to sound reform. Among other timely topics, the authors discuss punitive damage awards in products liability cases, the evolution of products liability law, and the problem of liability for "mass disaster" torts, such as might be produced by a nuclear accident. More generally, this book is an important contribution to the "law and economics" movement, the most exciting and controversial development in modern legal education and scholarship, and will become an obligatory reference for all who are concerned with the study of tort law.




Research Handbook on the Economics of Torts


Book Description

Focusing on issues of vital importance to those seeking to understand and reform the tort system, this volume takes a multi-disciplinary approach, including theoretical economic analysis, empirical analysis, socio-economic analysis, and behavioral anal




Tort Law


Book Description




Tort Law and Economics


Book Description

The central goal of this book is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the literature with respect to the economic analysis of tort law. It sure meets the challenge, offering with great expertise a comprehensive presentation of tort law in both economic and comparative perspectives. The clarity of the text, unusual in the law and economics literature, makes the book accessible to a broad readership of economists with a limited legal background and lawyers with limited economic skills. Olivier Moreteau, Louisiana State University, US Tort Law and Economics, ed. Michael Faure, provides a highly useful economic overview of the most important topics of tort law. The authors clearly show the main developments of the discussion, examining the results of recent studies and stating their own opinions. Detailed bibliographies are included. The volume has to be warmly recommended to friends and foes of economic analysis who are provided with a comprehensive update in this field while also indicating areas which critics have to focus on. Helmut Koziol, European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, Austria This volume provides a state-of-the-art overview of the literature on the economic analysis of tort law. In sixteen chapters, the specialist authors guide the reader through the often vast literature in each domain providing a balanced and comprehensive summary. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of the field, further refinements to economic models and relevant conclusions and lessons for the policymaker. Tort Law and Economics is part of the Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, and enables readers, some not familiar with law and economics, to obtain an insight in the relevant economic literature concerning tort law and economics. This book will be of interest to lawyers and economists, practitioners and academics interested in accident law, tort law, insurance and regulation. It will also appeal to students in economic analysis of law and policymakers working on prevention of accidents, tort law or compensation of accident victims.




Strict Liability


Book Description

This volume presents a cogent analysis of the legal and economic consequences arising from expansion in the doctrine of strict liability and the corresponding decrease in the importance of proving fault. Vandall's goal is to illuminate the role of strict liability in the largely unheralded and informal development of the American compensation system. To this end, he examines and explains the widening of strict liability during the last 121 years, with particular emphasis on the past 29 years. Vandall begins with a historical overview of strict liability, arguing that the policies which have supported the growth of strict liability within products liability also support its application in other areas. By comparing and contrasting the U.S. and British compensation systems, he shows that the U.S. has been drawn towards the adoption of strict liability because it lacks socialized medicine. Subsequent chapters set forth various tests for strict liability and critique the negligence-efficiency theory. Turning to a discussion of contemporary practice, Vandall sets out the present scope of strict liability and asserts that a case can be made for the extension of strict liability far beyond the area of products liability. Finally, Vandall evaluates the reforms aimed at strict liability over the last ten years and concludes that the suggested return to negligence is unwarranted and not supported by facts.




Economic Analysis of Tort Liability


Book Description

Tort law has been one of the first fields of law to be analyzed from an economic point of view. Tort law is majorly concerned with accidental injuries. Its purposes are twofold, viz., to compensate the victims and to deter unreasonably dangerous behavior. The economic theory of tort law emphasizes on the deterrence aspect of tort law. It is based on the impression that liability for accidental injuries should be allocated, so as to minimize the expected costs of accidents, including the harm suffered by victims and the cost of precautions by injurers and victims. This work is an attempt to simplify some of the existing work on the subject. This work aims to analyze the tort liability from an economic point of view. This work does not take into account each and every concept of tort law but only a selection of them which are more directly related to the tort law than others and all of them come together cohesively to form a seamless body of study as is the aim of this work This Work outlines a general economic approach of the tort law showing that all efficient rules must define negligent behavior as inefficient behavior and must hold an individual liable depending upon his liability. Further, this work also provides a brief insight into product liability under tort law from an economic point of view.




Economic Analysis of Tort Law


Book Description

This book looks at the negligence concept of tort law and studies the efficiency issue arising from the determination of negligence. It does so by scrutinizing actual court decisions from three common law jurisdictions – Britain, India and the United States of America. This volume fills a very significant gap, scrutinizing 52 landmark judgments from these three countries, by focussing on the negligent affliction of economic loss determined by common law courts and how these findings relate to the existing theoretical literature. By doing so, it examines the formalization of legal concepts in theory, primarily the question of negligence determination and liability, and their centrality in theories concerning tort law. This book will be very helpful for students, professors and practitioners of law, jurisprudence and legal theory. It will additionally be of use to researchers and academics interested in law and economics, procedure and legal history.




Reforming Products Liability


Book Description

Drawing on liability insurance trends and litigation patterns, Viscusi shows that the products liability crisis is has been developing for decades. He argues that the principal causes have been the expansion of the doctrine of design defect, the emergence of mass toxic torts, and an increase in lawsuits involving hazard warnings.