Description
Book SynopsisNearly twenty years after its original publication, The Idea of Private Law is widely recognized as a seminal contribution to legal philosophy, and one of the leading attempts to explain and justify the moral foundations of private law. Rejecting the functionalism popular among legal scholars, Ernest Weinrib advances the provocative idea that private law is an autonomous and non-instrumental moral practice, with its own structure and rationality. Weinrib draws on Kant and Aristotle to set out an approach to private law that repudiates the identification of law with politics or economics. Weinrib argues that private law is to be understood not as a mechanism for promoting efficiency but as a juridical enterprise in which coherent public reason elaborates the norms implicit in the parties'' interaction. Private law, Weinrib tells us, embodies a special morality that links the doer and the sufferer of harm. Weinrib elucidates the standpoint internal to this morality, in opposition to func
Trade ReviewErnest Weinrib's new book deserves our highest attention. No one who thinks seriously about the nature of private law can afford to ignore this work. In addition to providing a compelling account of the nature of private law, this book puts into serious question the leading contemporary accounts of the nature of law. In short, this is a book from which any student of law will learn much...No account of private law can be complete without addressing Weinrib's position. * Dennis Patterson (Modern Law Review) *
Clearly and elegantly written. The debate that Weinrib engages is important and Weinrib's own position in the debate should be heard. He makes a significant contribution by arguing the importance of understanding tort law by reference to its own internal structure. * George P. Fletcher, School of Law, Columbia University *
The Idea of Private Law presents a position about tort law which in my view is essential, and develops that position in a way that is both powerful and eloquent. Weinrib stands out among those who have analyzed tort law from a justice perspective. This is a brave and distinguished book. * Gary T. Schwartz, University of California, Los Angeles *
The Idea of Private Law is a complex and stimulating book which deserves to be read by anyone interested in private law. Weinrib shows clearly why certain theories about the functions and justifications for private law are inadequate, and he causes the reader to think in new and fruitful ways about old problems. * Peter Cane, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1996 *
Table of ContentsPreface to the Revised Edition ; 1. Understanding Private Law ; 2. Legal Formalism ; 3. Corrective Justice ; 4. Kantian Right ; 5. Correlativity ; 6. Negligence Liability ; 7. Strict Liability ; 8. The Autonomy of Private Law
