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Full-Text Articles in Disaster Law
The Emergency Next Time, Noa Ben-Asher
The Emergency Next Time, Noa Ben-Asher
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article offers a new conceptual framework to understand the connection between law and violence in emergencies. It is by now well-established that governments often commit state violence in times of national security crisis by implementing excessive emergency measures. The Article calls this type of legal violence “Emergency-Affirming Violence.” But Emergency Violence can also be committed through governmental non-action. This type of violence, which this Article calls, “Emergency-Denying Violence,” has manifested in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Article offers a taxonomy to better understand the phenomenon of Emergency Violence. Using 9/11 and COVID-19 as examples, the Article proposes …
The Social Cost Of Contract, David A. Hoffman, Cathy Hwang
The Social Cost Of Contract, David A. Hoffman, Cathy Hwang
All Faculty Scholarship
When private parties perform contracts, the public bears some of the costs. But what happens when society confronts unexpected contractual risks? During the COVID-19 pandemic, completing particular contracts—such as following through with weddings, conferences, and other large gatherings—will greatly increase the risk of rapidly spreading disease. A close reading of past cases illustrates that when social hazards sharply increase after formation, courts have sometimes rejected, reformed, and reinterpreted contracts so that parties who breach to reduce external harms are not left holding the bag.
This Essay builds on that observation in making two contributions. Theoretically, it characterizes contracts as bargains …