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Tort Law Through Time And Culture: Themes Of Economic Efficiency, M Stuart Madden
Tort Law Through Time And Culture: Themes Of Economic Efficiency, M Stuart Madden
M Stuart Madden
Hellenic philosophers assessed the goals of society as: (1) the protection of persons and property from wrongful harm; (2) protection of the individual’s means of survival and prosperity; (3) discouragement of self-aggrandizement to the detriment of others; and (4) elevation of individual knowledge that would carry forward and perfect such principles.
Roman law was replete with proscriptions against forced taking and unjust enrichment, and included rules for ex ante contract-based resolution of potential disagreement. Customary law perpetuated these efficient economic tenets within the Western World and beyond.
The common law, in turn, has nurtured many of the same ends. From …