Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

First Page

1053

Volume

39

Source Publication Abbreviation

Akron L. Rev.

Abstract

This article calls for consideration of the relationship of strong social norms to the tort reform debate. Additionally, it inquires into the concepts of measuring and comparing interests and the judgments of proportionality inherent in traditional legal doctrines, scrutinizing in particular the methodology of comparisons in tort reform.

Part II of the article examines the need to identify, measure, and compare the interests at stake in any legal contest with rigorous consistency.

Part III explores the natural hierarchy among legal norms and the weight accorded various types of interests that deserve legal protection.

Part IV considers the system of measurement presented by the current tort reform movement, exploring the failure of many proponents of tort reform to account for or accommodate the tradition of a more generous and protective measure of damages in tort law as compared with contract law.

Part V concludes that identification of both individual and collective interests and consideration of the fundamental incentives of tort law should be an integral and explicit part of the debate on tort reform.

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