The Domain of Private Law

26 Pages Posted: 13 Apr 2020

See all articles by Hanoch Dagan

Hanoch Dagan

Berkeley Law School

Avihay Dorfman

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law

Date Written: March 17, 2020

Abstract

Private law theories tend to narrowly delineate their ambitions: many theories limit private law’s normative aspirations to a circumscribed set of liberalism’s core commitments, restrict its horizons to the boundaries of the state, and marry its norms with only one type of legal institution (courts). These limited ambitions, we argue in this Article, are normatively unwarranted. Each of these (often implicit) limitations distorts our understanding of the law governing people’s interpersonal relationships in their capacity as private individuals. Each of them improperly marginalizes, and at time renders normatively dubious, legal doctrines that give effect to the liberal commitment that captures the moral center of private law, namely, reciprocal respect for self-determination and substantive equality.

Suggested Citation

Dagan, Hanoch and Dorfman, Avihay, The Domain of Private Law (March 17, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3555926 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3555926

Hanoch Dagan (Contact Author)

Berkeley Law School ( email )

890 simon hall
215 Bancroft way
berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Avihay Dorfman

Tel Aviv University - Buchmann Faculty of Law ( email )

Ramat Aviv
Tel Aviv, 69978
Israel

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