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TORTS & PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW ABSTRACTS"Guido Calabresi on Torts: Italian Courts and the Cheapest Cost Avoider"
ROBERTO PARDOLESI, Libera Università degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) Guido Carli Guido Calabresi proposed to replace the dominating paradigm of fault with simpler strict liability rules that put liability on the most appropriate actors (the cheapest cost avoiders). Assuming that the objective function of the tort system is the mimimization of the sum of the injury and injury avoidance costs associated with accidents (primary costs), risk-spreading costs (secondary costs), and administrative costs (tertiary costs), he suggested that the adoption of strict liability, targeted to specified activities, would achieve the goal of cost minimization. The core of an extremely richer message was that the cheapest cost avoider test would abate the administrative costs of courts. Moreover, the manufacturers’ ability to spread the costs of strict liability through the prices charged for their products would effectively insure product users against the risks of injury. This masterpiece of normative analysis has deployed an ever increasing influence on thinking about tort law, not only in the US but also in Europe. This paper aims to trace the impact of Calabresi’s ideas on Italian case-law. "Calabresi and Behavioural Tort Law and Economics"
MICHAEL G. FAURE, University of Maastricht - Faculty of Law, Metro, Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Law Written in honour of Guido Calabresi, this essay discusses critically several of the basic assumptions of the neo-classic model of tort law: one being that rational individuals will respond to applicable tort rules, striving to maximise their utility and to satisfy their own self-interest. Insights from behavioural law and economics are used to show that decision-making often takes place in a way that is different from that assumed by traditional economic models. The paper discusses the consequences of the behavioural literature for the economic analysis of law. It also demonstrates that Calabresi’s approach to tort law is more differentiated and flexible than some of the more formal models. This approach has the advantage that it allows one to take into account all kinds of cognitive limitations, errors, and information problems, as did Calabresi himself in many of his publications on this issue in the 1960s and 1970s. The paper illustrates how Guido Calabresi was already aware of cognitive limits: for instance, concerning the ability of parties to assess how much they should spend ‘for their own good’. This led him to arrive at balanced conclusions with regard to normative consequences of these limits. Many of the ideas of behavioural law and economics were hence already implicit in Calabresi’s writings. | ||||||||
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Solicitation of Abstracts
Tort Law publishes abstracts of working papers, forthcoming articles, and recently published articles dealing with torts, product liability, and insurance law. Related articles may also be published in other Legal Scholarship Network journals, including Law and Economics; Litigation, Procedure, and Dispute Resolution; Health Law and Policy; Employment and Labor Law; and Environmental Law and Policy.
Distribution ServicesIf your organization is interested in increasing readership for its research by starting a Research Paper Series, or sponsoring a Subject Matter eJournal, please email: RPS@SSRN.com Distributed by:DirectorsLSN SUBJECT MATTER EJOURNALS A. MITCHELL POLINSKY BERNARD S. BLACK RONALD J. GILSON Please contact us at the above addresses with your comments, questions or suggestions for LSN-Sub. Advisory BoardTorts & Products Liability Law ANITA BERNSTEIN RICHARD A. EPSTEIN MARK GEISTFELD MARK F. GRADY SAUL LEVMORE ROBERT L. RABIN W. KIP VISCUSI RICHARD W. WRIGHT
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