Relational Justice and Torts

Research Handbook on Private Law Theories (Hanoch Dagan & Benjamin Zipursky eds., 2020), Forthcoming

17 Pages Posted: 30 Apr 2019 Last revised: 21 Jan 2020

See all articles by Avihay Dorfman

Avihay Dorfman

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Date Written: January 21, 2020

Abstract

This Chapter introduces relational justice to the study of tort law. It argues that tort law matters to a liberal society not necessarily because it provides private persons a court-administered system of redressing wrongdoing in a just, civil, or efficient manner. Rather, tort law matters because it determines pre-wrong terms of involuntary interactions so that people could, rather than merely would, relate as substantively free and equal private persons. This way of identifying the moral point of tort law carries certain explanatory and justificatory implications. I demonstrate this claim by focusing on workplace safety, the doctrines of nonfeasance liability, and the standard of reasonable care.

Keywords: torts, relational justice, nonfeasance, reasonable care, equality

Suggested Citation

Dorfman, Avihay, Relational Justice and Torts (January 21, 2020). Research Handbook on Private Law Theories (Hanoch Dagan & Benjamin Zipursky eds., 2020), Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3362030

Avihay Dorfman (Contact Author)

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel

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