Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T15:51:32.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disgorging the Fruits of Historical Wrongdoing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2013

ROBERT E. GOODIN
ROBERT E. GOODIN*
Affiliation:
University of Essex & Australian National University
*
Robert E. Goodin is Professor of Government, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK (regoodin@essex.ac.uk) and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia (Bob.Goodin@anu.edu.au).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are many different ways of responding to wrongdoing: person-centered or object-centered, victim-centered or perpetrator-centered, and fault-oriented or not. Among these approaches, requiring innocent beneficiaries to disgorge the fruits of historical wrongdoings of others is attractive because it is informationally the least demanding. Although that approach is perhaps not ideal, at least it is feasible where other responses are not, and doing something is better than doing nothing in response to grievous historical wrongdoing. Depending on circumstances, disgorgement can be in whole or in part, in kind or in cash. Even without the full information that disgorgement itself requires, general redistributive taxation might be justified as a tolerably close approximation.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 107 , Issue 3 , August 2013 , pp. 478 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Al-Khasawneh, Awn Shawkat. 1997. Freedom of Movement: Human Rights and Population Transfer. Final report of the Special Rapporteur. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/23. New York: UN Economic & Social Council. http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.Sub.2.1997.23.En?Opendocument (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
Allen, Robert C. 1992. Enclosure and the Yeoman. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
American Law Institute (ALI). 1962. Model Penal Code. Philadelphia: ALI.Google Scholar
Australia, Commonwealth of. 2002. “Proceeds of Crime Act of 2002.” http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012C00431 (Accessed Sept 21, 2012).Google Scholar
Barkan, Elazar. 2000. The Guilt of Nations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, Randy E. 1977. “Restitution: A New Paradigm of Criminal Justice.” Ethics 87 (4): 279–301.Google Scholar
Birks, Peter. 1995. “Tracing, Claiming and Defence.” In Laundering and Tracing, ed. Birks, Peter. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 289–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birks, Peter. 2005. Unjust Enrichment, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Blackstone, William. 1765. Commentaries on the Laws of England. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Booth, W. James. 2011. “‘Far from this Place’: On Justice and Absence.” American Political Science Review 105 (4): 750–64.Google Scholar
Brewer, Daniel. 1893. “Majority Opinion.” Monongahela Navigation Co. v. US, 148 U.S. 312.Google Scholar
Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. 2007. Slavery and Justice. Providence, RI: Brown University. http://brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/ (Accessed Sept. 21, 2012).Google Scholar
Butt, Daniel. 2009. Rectifying Historical Injustice: Principles of Compensation and Restitution between Nations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Celermajer, Danielle. 2009. The Sins of the Nation and the Ritual of Apologies. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chelcea, Liviu. 2003. “Ancestors, Domestic Groups and the Socialist State: Housing Nationalization and Restitution in Romania.” Comparative Studies in Society & History 45 (4): 714–40.Google Scholar
Cowen, Tyler. 2006. “How Far Back Should We Go? Why Restitution Should Be Small.” In Retribution and Reparation in the Transition to Democracy, ed. Elster, Jon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 17–32.Google Scholar
Elhauge, Einer. 2009. “Disgorgement as an Antitrust Remedy.” Antitrust Law Journal 76 (1): 79–95.Google Scholar
Engerman, Stanley L. 2009. “Apologies, Regrets and Reparations.” European Review 17 (3–4): 593–610.Google Scholar
Fraser, Nancy. 1995. “From Redistribution to Recognition: Dilemmas of Justice in a ‘Post-socialist’ Age.” New Left Review 212 (July/Aug): 68–93.Google Scholar
Galanter, Marc. 2002. “Righting Old Wrongs.” In Breaking the Cycles of Hatred, ed. Minow, Martha. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 107–31.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Jeffrey N., and Fleder, John R.. 2003. “Can FDA Seek Restitution or Disgorgement?” Food & Drug Law Journal 58 (2): 129–47.Google ScholarPubMed
Goodin, Robert E. 1989. “Theories of Compensation.” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 9 (1): 56–75.Google Scholar
Goodin, Robert E. 1991. “Compensation and Redistribution.” In Nomos XXXIII: Compensatory Justice, ed. Chapman, John W.. New York: New York University Press, 143–77.Google Scholar
Grantham, R. B., and Rickett, C. E. F.. 2003. “Disgorgement for Unjust Enrichment?” Cambridge Law Journal 62 (1): 159–80.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Michael J. 1998. “Resolving a Dilemma: The Inheritance of Jewish Property.” Cardozo Law Review 20 (2): 625–55.Google Scholar
Kutz, Christopher. 2004. “Justice in Reparations: The Cost of Memory and the Value of Talk.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 32 (3): 277–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law Commission. 1997. Aggravated, Exemplary and Restitutionary Damages. Report. LC247. London: Law Commission. http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/publications/aggravated-exemplary-restitionary-damages.htm (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
Levmore, Saul. 1987. “Variety and Uniformity in the Treatment of the Good-faith Purchaser.” Journal of Legal Studies 16 (1): 43–65.Google Scholar
Luban, David. 1999. “Contrived Ignorance.” Georgetown Law Journal 87 (4): 957–80.Google Scholar
Lyons, David. 1977. “The New Indian Claims and the Original Rights to Land.” Social Theory & Practice 4 (3): 249–72.Google Scholar
McCall, Christopher L. 2006. “Equity up in Smoke, Civil RICO, Disgorgement, and United States v. Philip Morris .” Fordham Law Review 74 (4): 2461–509.Google Scholar
Mihai, Mihaela. 2013. “When the State Says ‘Sorry’: State Apologies as Exemplary Political Judgments.” Journal of Political Philosophy 21 (2): 200–20.Google Scholar
Musgrave, Richard A., and Musgrave, Peggy B.. 1973. Public Finance in Theory & Practice, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Nozick, Robert. 1974. Anarchy, State & Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Thérèse. 2011. “The Restitution of Holocaust Looted Art and Transitional Justice: The Perfect Storm or the Raft of the Medusa?” European Journal of International Law 22 (1): 49–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Offe, Claus. 1992. “Coming to Terms with Past Injustices: An Introduction to Legal Strategies Available in Post-communist Societies.” Archives Européenes de Sociologie 33 (1): 195–201.Google Scholar
Perry, Stephen R. 2000. “On the Relationship between Corrective and Distributive Justice.” In Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence, 4th series, ed. Horder, Jeremy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 237–63.Google Scholar
Roberts, Rodney C. 2003. “The Morality of a Statute of Limitations on Injustice.” Journal of Ethics 7 (1): 115–38.Google Scholar
Roberts, Rodney C. 2007. “Another Look at a Moral Statute of Limitations on Injustice.” Journal of Ethics 11 (2): 177–92.Google Scholar
Rotberg, Robert I., and Thompson, Dennis, eds. 2000. Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Seavey, Warren A., and Scott, Austin W., reporters. 1937. Restatement of the Law of Restitution. St. Paul, MN: American Law Institute.Google Scholar
Sher, George. 1981. “Ancient Wrongs and Modern Rights.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 10 (1): 3–17.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. John. 1995. “Historical Rights and Fair Shares.” Law & Philosophy 14 (2): 149–84.Google Scholar
Smith, Holly. 1983. “Culpable Ignorance.” Philosophical Review 92 (4): 543–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Lionel D. 1997. The Law of Tracing. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Lionel D. 2003. “Restitution.” In Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies, eds. Cane, Peter and Tushnet, Mark. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 48–61.Google Scholar
Swaan, Abram de. 1988. In Care of the State. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Tate, W. E. 1967. The English Village Community and the Enclosure Movements. London: Gollancz.Google Scholar
Thompson, E. P. 1964. The Making of the English Working Class. London: Gollancz.Google Scholar
Thompson, Janna. 2001. “Historical Injustice and Reparation: Justifying Claims of Descendants.” Ethics 112 (1): 114–35.Google Scholar
United Kingdom (UK). 2002. “Proceeds of Crime Act.” http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/29/contents (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
United Kingdon (UK), Crown Estate. 2012. “Escheat – a Brief Guidance Note by the Crown Estate.” http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/275888/escheat_guidance_note.pdf (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
United Kingdom (UK), Treasury Solicitor's Office. 2012. “About bona vacantia.” http://www.bonavacantia.gov.uk/output/about-bona-vacantia.aspx (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
United Nations (UN). 1926. “Slavery Convention.” http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/slavery.htm (Accessed Dec. 27, 2012).Google Scholar
United Nations (UN). 1949. “Fourth Geneva Convention: Convention (IV) Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.” http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5 (Accessed Sept. 21, 2012).Google Scholar
United Nations (UN). 1968. “Convention on the Non-applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.” Resolution 2391 (XXIII). Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-third Session, Supplement No. 18 (A/7218). http://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-6&chapter=4&lang=en (Accessed Sept. 21, 2012).Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. 1862. “Homestead Act.” http://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?flash=true&page=transcript&doc=31&title=Transcript+of+Homestead+Act+%281862%29 (Accessed Sept. 21, 2012).Google Scholar
U.S. Congress. 1986. “Higher Education Act.” http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title20/pdf/USCODE-2010-title20-chap28-subchapIV-partF-sec1091a.pdf (Accessed Sept. 21, 2012).Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy. 1992. “Superseding Historic Injustice.” Ethics 103 (1): 4–28.Google Scholar
Williams, Melissa S., Nagy, Rosemary, and Elster, Jon, eds. 2012. Nomos LI: Transitional Justice. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Worthington, Sarah. 1999. “Reconsidering Disgorgement for Wrongs.” Modern Law Review 62 (2): 218–40.Google Scholar