Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law [Paperback]

This exceptional collection of twenty-two essays on the philosophical fundamentals of tort law assembles many of the world's leading commentators on this particularly fascinating conjunction of law and philosophy. The contributions range broadly, from inquiries into how tort law derives from Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kant to the latest economic and rights-based theories of legal responsibility. This is truly a multi-national production, with contributions from several distinguished Oxford scholars of law and philosophy and many prominent scholars from the United States, Canada, and Israel. A provocative closing essay by one of the world's leading moral philosophers illuminates how tort law enables philosophers to observe the abstract theories of their discipline put to the concrete test in the legal resolution of real-world controversies based on principles of right and wrong.

Foreword: Why Philosophy Matters to Tort Law,David G. Owen
I. The Nature and Realm of Tort Law and Philosophy
1. The Concept of a Civil Wrong.Peter Birks
2. The Practice of Corrective Justice.Jules L. Coleman
3. The Morality of Tort Law--Questions and Answers.Tony Honore
II. Principles and Values Underlying Tort Law
4. Wealth Maximization and Tort Law: A Philosophical Inquiry.Richard A. Posner
5. The Uneasy Place of Principle in Tort Law.George C. Christie
6. Tort Law in the Aristotelian Tradition.James Gordley
7. Rights, Justice, and Tort Law.Richard W. Wright
8. The Idea of Complementarity as a Philosophical Basis for Pluralism in Tort Law.Izhak Englard
III. Philosophical Perspectives on Tort Law Problems
A. Responsibility and the Basis of Liability
9. Philosophical Foundations of Fault in Tort Law.David G. Owen
10. Intention in Tort Law.John Finnis
11. The Standards of Care in Negligence Law.