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Ch.1- What is Tort Law
Course
Torts (LAW 15)
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University of Miami
Academic year: 2022/2023
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Chapter 1- Tort Law I. What is Tort Law? Tort as wrongdoing Torts are wrongs recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. Torts involve conduct that falls below some legal standard. In most cases, the defendant is at fault, either bc he intends harm or because he takes unreasonable risks of harm. Harm Required In all tort cases, the defendant's wrong results in a harm to another person (or entity)- the law is willing to say constitutes a legal injury. Injured person is said to have a "cause of action"
- A claim against the person who committed the tort.
- The claim can be pursued in court.
- Types of injuries: Physical injury or threat of physical injury. Harm that is purely commercial Intangible harm- harm to reputation. Torts, crimes, and contracts A breach of contract is often not considered a tort
- Must be redressed under rules of contract not rules of tort. Torts can also be crimes
- Ex: punch in the nose- tort called battery but may also be a crime.
- Defendants who attack plaintiff can be prosecuted criminally and held liable for the tort.
- The two field overlap but are not identical.
- Criminal law aims at vindicating public interests- tort law aims at vindicating individual rights and redressing private harms. Non-tort system Alternatives to tort law- workers' compensation systems- require employers to buy insurance & pay for all on-the-job injuries even when employer is not at fault. Common questions in tort law- laws of torts are concerned with 3 questions:
- What conduct counts as tortious or wrongful?
- Did the conduct cause the kind of harm the law will recognize?
- What defenses can be raised against liability if the defendant has committed a tort? II. The Goals of Tort Law A. Some Broad (and conflicting) Aims § 10 Justice, policy, and process aims of tort law in summary :Aims of tort law- usually erected under 1 or 2 large systems of thought: Morality or corrective justice
- Moral Responsibility: attempts to hold defendants liable for harms they wrongfully cause and no others.
- Corrective justice: good social effect may result when courts act to right wrongs done by defendants. *In this system of thought that is not the point of imposing liability. *Liability is imposed when and only when it is "right" to do so. Social utility or public policy *Bases tort law on social policy or a good-for-all-of-us view. *Social policy's dominant concerns are to provide a system of rules that works towards the good of society. Potential conflicts- The first two thoughts are regarded as antithetical to each other. *When justice and policy do not point to the same result- one view must prevail or both are compromised.
*Legal process view might also conflict with the aims of justice or policy. *Ex: City facing a raging and spreading fire: If city's actions are judged by a standard of social policy- jurists might say the city should not be liable. If city's actions are judged by corrective standard- city should pay for the damages. § 11 Corrective justice, distributive justice, and policy Advocacy requires lawyers to show judges why one approach or the other is most appropriate for the particular case. § 12 Fault and other normative bases for liability Fault and justice: *Tort law imposes liability upon defendants for conduct the law treats as wrong. *The conduct adjudged as wrong- viewed as morally faulty conduct: intentional misconduct or unreasonably risky conduct- likely to cause harm. *Tort law seems for be commensurate in a general way with corrective justice ideals. *In a corrective justice scheme- wrong to impose liability upon a defendant who is not at fault in causing harm to plaintiff.
- Society may wish to use public funds to compensate people but cannot force one innocent individual to compensate another. *These few focus on individual accountability for fault accompanied by individual freedom to act without fault. Strict liability and corrective justice *Strict liability is a theory that imposes legal responsibility for damages or injuries even if the person who was found strictly liable did not act with fault or negligence. This theory usually applies in three types of situations: animal bites (in certain states), manufacturing defects, and abnormally dangerous activities. *Some strict liability seems to commensurate with corrective justice. *Majority of tort law turn on some kind of perception that the defendant is at fault in a significant way. *These cases begin with ideals of justice, even if those ideal may be modified by pragmatic process, or policy consideration in particular case. § 13 Compensation, risk distribution, fault Compensation *Compensation for persons injured is one of the generally accepted aims of tort law. *Compensation is desirable, it is just and socially desirable. Risk distribution or loss spreading *Tort liability should be strict or expansive- to secure compensation for more injured persons. *“Risk distributors”- defendants who should be liable for any harms caused regardless of fault bc they can distribute the costs of paying compensation. *Ex: product manufacturers can pay the compensation for injuries they cause- then recoup some or all of those costs by raising the price of products. *Each individual purchaser pays the costs of injuries inflicted by those products- Loss would then cause less social dislocation. Limited acceptance of risk distribution arguments *Common law of torts has not adopted views that compensation is more important than corrective justice or that liability should be strict. *Distribution arguments and strict liability have gone hand in hand (in some cases) but have not supplanted fault as the most common basis for tort law. § 14 Fostering freedom, deterring unsafe conduct; economic analysis *Deterrence Another aim of tort law is to deter certain kinds of conduct by imposing liability when conduct causes harm.
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Ch.1- What is Tort Law
Course: Torts (LAW 15)
84 Documents
Students shared 84 documents in this course
University: University of Miami
Was this document helpful?
Chapter 1- Tort Law
I. What is Tort Law?
Tort as wrongdoing
Torts are wrongs recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit.
Torts involve conduct that falls below some legal standard.
In most cases, the defendant is at fault, either bc he intends harm or because he takes unreasonable risks of
harm.
Harm Required
In all tort cases, the defendant's wrong results in a harm to another person (or entity)- the law is willing to
say constitutes a legal injury.
Injured person is said to have a "cause of action"
*A claim against the person who committed the tort.
*The claim can be pursued in court.
*Types of injuries:
Physical injury or threat of physical injury.
Harm that is purely commercial
Intangible harm- harm to reputation.
Torts, crimes, and contracts
A breach of contract is often not considered a tort
*Must be redressed under rules of contract not rules of tort.
Torts can also be crimes
*Ex: punch in the nose- tort called battery but may also be a crime.
*Defendants who attack plaintiff can be prosecuted criminally and held liable for the tort.
*The two field overlap but are not identical.
*Criminal law aims at vindicating public interests- tort law aims at vindicating individual rights and
redressing private harms.
Non-tort system
Alternatives to tort law- workers' compensation systems- require employers to buy insurance & pay for all
on-the-job injuries even when employer is not at fault.
Common questions in tort law- laws of torts are concerned with 3 questions:
1. What conduct counts as tortious or wrongful?
2. Did the conduct cause the kind of harm the law will recognize?
3. What defenses can be raised against liability if the defendant has committed a tort?
II. The Goals of Tort Law
A. Some Broad (and conflicting) Aims
§ 10 Justice, policy, and process aims of tort law in summary :Aims of tort law- usually erected under 1
or 2 large systems of thought:
Morality or corrective justice
1. Moral Responsibility: attempts to hold defendants liable for harms they wrongfully cause and no
others.
2. Corrective justice: good social effect may result when courts act to right wrongs done by defendants.
*In this system of thought that is not the point of imposing liability.
*Liability is imposed when and only when it is "right" to do so.
Social utility or public policy
*Bases tort law on social policy or a good-for-all-of-us view.
*Social policy's dominant concerns are to provide a system of rules that works towards the good of
society.
Potential conflicts- The first two thoughts are regarded as antithetical to each other.
*When justice and policy do not point to the same result- one view must prevail or both are
compromised.
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