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Palsgraf, Principles Of Tort Law, And The Persistent Need For Common-Law Judgment In Ip Infringement Cases, Jay Dratler Jr.

Jay Dratler

As lawyers, judges and law professors reach retirement age, there is little that we remember of our first-year course in torts. The cases we studied, our professors’ personalities—even the psychological trauma of the first pointed Socratic question directed at us—all are lost in the mists of time. Yet some things remain. Among them are the name and facts of Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., one of the most memorable cases in all of American common law. A great judge, Benjamin Cardozo, penned the majority opinion. The facts of Palsgraf stick in our minds because Judge Cardozo helpfully outlined them …