Why It's Better to Be Sorry than Safe: The Case for Apology Protection Legislation
(2013) 36 Dublin University Law Journal 127
30 Pages Posted: 15 Aug 2014
Date Written: June 12, 2013
Abstract
This essay evaluates the role of apology as a method of facilitating the resolution of civil disputes. It examines the importance of apology to society and the positive impact the communication of a genuine apology can have on the concerns and interests of individual litigants. Despite these advantages, apologies are chronically under-used as a means of resolving disputes, partly because of the fear that an apology might be construed as an admission of guilt on the part of the wrongdoer, thereby exposing him or her to liability. This essay identifies and examines the underlying reasons for the under-use of apology in these cases and analyses whether these concerns are real or exaggerated. This essay concludes by investigating whether the introduction of apology-protection legislation should be adopted in the Irish jurisdiction as the most appropriate method of encouraging the greater use of apology to resolve such disputes.
Keywords: apology, tort, alternative dispute resolution
JEL Classification: K13
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation