Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-02T04:11:24.767Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Wrongful Fusion

Equity and Tort

from Part III - Functional, Analytical and Theoretical Views

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2019

John C. P. Goldberg
Affiliation:
Harvard Law School, Massachusetts
Henry E. Smith
Affiliation:
Harvard Law School, Massachusetts
P. G. Turner
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

This chapter shows that fusion in the United States, particularly under the influence of Legal Realism, has seen all of tort law become equitable – or all of tort law swallowed up by equity. Each of tort and equity has, under this influence, the potential to swallow up all of private law. The chapter shows, however, the tort law is nevertheless distinct – particularly from equity. Tort law rules are general commands simply understood and relatively simply applied. They are intended to guide the behaviour of all people. Equity, in contrast, mainly consists of second-order rules: rules that presuppose other rules, and control how those other rules work. Fusion is explored by seeing where tort law rules have been injected with second-order (equitable) rules and where equity has produced a doctrine that has become embedded in the law as a set of first-order rules. There is a case for having both first- and second-order rules in the law today.

Type
Chapter
Information
Equity and Law
Fusion and Fission
, pp. 309 - 330
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×