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Reconceptualizing Strict Liability In Tort: An Overview, Martin A. Kotler

Vanderbilt Law Review

In a series of books and articles, Professor Marshall Shapo has developed the idea of American tort law as a "cultural mirror"--a legal system reflecting cultural norms that serves as the "intellectual and practical foundation for society's response to injuries." The "cultural mirror" metaphor captures both the notion that there is a substantive normative basis for tort law that exists within society and the procedural notion that tort law ensures that those underlying norms are reflected in the resolution of tort disputes.

Although I believe Professor Shapo's description to be fundamentally correct, it is also incomplete, and, as a result, …