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Full-Text Articles in Law and Psychology
Aiding And Altruism: A Mythopsycholegal Analysis, Thomas C. Galligan Jr.
Aiding And Altruism: A Mythopsycholegal Analysis, Thomas C. Galligan Jr.
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article asserts that traditional tort law should be modified to provide for a duty to act in situations in which a reasonable person would act altruistically. Part I examines traditional and more recent tort doctrine governing the duty to aid. Part II discusses compassion from philosophical, literary, and mythological points of view and explores how these viewpoints inform compassion's possible relationship to a legal duty to help. Part III considers the connections between psychological theories and studies of action, altruism, and empathy. In addition to Batson's work, I reexamine the classic studies of Latan6 and Darley and the application …
Redefining The Family: Recognizing The Altruistic Caretaker And The Importance Of Relational Needs, Beverly Horsburgh
Redefining The Family: Recognizing The Altruistic Caretaker And The Importance Of Relational Needs, Beverly Horsburgh
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Part I of this Article describes the general nonrecognition of altruism in the law. It then focuses on contract law, discussing cases involving parties who cohabitate without formalizing their relationship in a marriage, and those who are not sexually intimate but are nevertheless interrelated members of an extended family. I argue that when a relationship ends, a caretaker becomes aware of her sacrifice and effort on behalf of another and experiences a sense of loss. However, recovery in contract requires the perverse recharacterization of the parties as self-seeking strangers impersonally bargaining over market services in a commodity exchange. Courts indulge …