This book develops a theory of tort law that integrates deontic and consequential
approaches by applying justificational analysis to identify the factors, circumstances,
and values that shape tort law. Drawing on Kantian and Rawlsian
philosophy, and on the insights of game theorist Ken Binmore, this book refocuses
tort law on a single theory of responsibility that explains and justifies the
broad range of tort doctrine and concepts. Under this theory, tort law asks people
to appropriately incorporate the well-being of others into the decisions they make,
explains when that duty applies, and explains the scope and limits of that duty.
The theory also incorporates a theory of the evolutionary development of social
values that people use, and ought to use, in meeting that duty and explains how
decision making from behind the veil of ignorance allows us to evaluate the is in
light of the ought.
Professor Peter M. Gerhart is a graduate of Northwestern University and Columbia
University Law School. He practiced law with Weil, Gotshal, and Manges before
entering teaching in 1975. Before serving as Dean of the Case Western Reserve
School of Law from 1986 to 1996, he was an expert in antitrust law, publishing
widely in the area and serving as consultant to both the ABA Commission on the
Future of Antitrust Law and the Carter Commission for the Review of Antitrust
Laws and Procedures. Since 1996 he has specialized in international economic
law, tort law, and legal theory.