Economic Structure of Tort Law

Author: (USA) William M. Landes
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: The Economic Structure of Tort Law is an important work in the field of law and economics, written by Judge Posner and economics professor Landes. In the book, the authors conduct an economic perspective study on various aspects of tort law. Through simple economic models and numerous vivid cases, they provide an economic interpretation of the existing principles of tort law, arguing that the tort law system is designed to achieve the optimal allocation of resources for safety purposes. On this basis, the authors also propose suggestions for specific legal reforms. This book is a comprehensive study of tort law—the law itself that adjusts the liability for accidents and intentional torts, such as assault and defamation—from an economic perspective, co-authored by a legal scholar and an economist. Landes and Posner suggest that tort law is best understood as a system that achieves an optimal allocation of resources for safety. Therefore, in general terms, the norms and principles of tort law encourage potential tortfeasors and potential victims to make the optimal investment in safety. The book includes both a comprehensive description of the main principles of tort law and a series of formal economic models used to explore the economic characteristics of these principles. All formal models are translated into simple, common-sense terms, making them easily understandable even for readers without a mathematical background; (similarly) to avoid legal jargon, the book is also written for economists and other readers without legal training. Although the primary focus is on explaining existing principles rather than exploring how judges, insurance adjusters, and other "real-world" actors enforce the law, the book remains clearly relevant to discussions on damage compensation, insurance premiums, and effectiveness, as well as debates on tort law reforms—in fact, a necessary prerequisite for reasonable reforms. In other timely topics, the authors discuss punitive damages in product liability cases, the evolution of product liability law, and the issue of liability in tort cases involving large-scale disasters, such as those caused by a nuclear accident. More importantly, the book makes a significant contribution to the modern legal education and research movement known as the exciting and controversial "law and economics" movement, and is bound to become a must-read for all those interested in tort law research.