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Foundations Of The Duty To Rescue, Steven J. Heyman
Foundations Of The Duty To Rescue, Steven J. Heyman
Vanderbilt Law Review
In 1908, James Barr Ames concluded his classic lecture on Law and Morals by posing the problem of a duty to rescue., Suppose, he said, that you are walking over a bridge when a man falls into the water and cries out for help. Do you have an obligation to save him from drowning by throwing a nearby rope? As the law then stood, the answer clearly was no. "The law does not compel active benevolence between man and man. It is left to one's conscience whether he shall be the good Samaritan or not." Nevertheless, Ames asserted, it was …