Tort Law in America: An Intellectual History

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Edward White's Tort Law in America is a concise and accessible history of the way legal scholars and judges have conceptualized the subject of torts, the reasons that changes in certain rules and doctrines have occurred, and the people who brought about these changes.

Now in an expanded edition, Tort Law in America features a n Widely regarded as a standard in the field, G. Now in an expanded edition, Tort Law in America features a new preface that places the book within the current scholarship and two new chapters covering developments in American tort law over the past fifteen years. White approaches his subject from four perspectives: He puts the intellectual history of this unique branch of law into the general picture of philosophy, sociology, and literature in what is not only a major work of legal scholarship but also a tour de force for anyone interested in American intellectual history.

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Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. May 15, B rated it liked it Shelves: Some of the stuff in the beginning is interesting. Thesis is intellectual development and academics really mattered.

Parts appeared to be recapitulation of the American Judicial Tradition. Stuff at the end about torts after the s seemed very silly. Not enough perspective to know what mattered.

9780195035995 - Tort Law in America An Intellectual History by G. Edward White

Jul 30, Thomas Bundy added it. Very helpful explanation of the development of tort law in America over the last years.

Dec 17, Jennifer rated it it was amazing Shelves: Alan rated it liked it Jan 16, Hosea rated it liked it Mar 06, Sophia rated it it was ok May 13, Robert Whitehouse rated it it was amazing Aug 22, Tom rated it really liked it Dec 18, Jeremy Sylestine rated it did not like it Apr 23, White approaches his subject from four perspectives: Widely regarded as a standard in the field, G. Edward White's Tort Law in America is a concise and accessible history of the way legal scholars and judges have conceptualized the subject of torts, the reasons that changes in certain rules and doctrines have occurred, and the people who brought about these changes.

Now in an expanded edition, Tort Law in America features a new preface that places the book within the current scholarship and two new chapters covering developments in American tort law over the past fifteen years. He puts the intellectual history of this unique branch of law into the general picture of philosophy, sociology, and literature in what is not only a major work of legal scholarship but also a tour de force for anyone interested in American intellectual history.

Tort Law in America

The Intellectual Origins of Torts in America 2. The Impact of Realism on Tort Law, 4.

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Neoconceptualism and the Future of Tort Law 8. Edward White begins with the rise of tort law as a separate discipline and traces its development through late nineteenth-century scientism; early twentieth-century legal realism; the contributions of Benjamin Cardozo, William Prosser, and Roger Traynor; and the "neoconceptualism" of the s the book was published in In this final chapter, he deals by turns with Richard Posner and Guido Calabresi on the law-and-economics side, and then with George Fletcher and Richard Epstein the latter before he went over to the utilitarians.

White's basic take on this intellectual history is one that is bound to raise a few hackles.

"Judge Jack Weinstein and the Construction of Tort Law in America: An I" by James R. Hackney, Jr.

Basically, he thinks that tort law itself covers a rather motley assortment of wrongs and cannot be reduced to a few simple principles; most of the ideas that have influenced the history of the field have taken hold, not because they arise from the field itself or because they have so much intrinsic worth, but simply because the scholars at certain influential institutions made them intellectually fashionable. That tort law resists rationalization by simple principles White regards as a good thing, because it keeps legal scholars from becoming a sort of intellectual priesthood.

On a second reading, then, one can almost hear White chuckling as he describes Harvard Law School Dean Christopher Columbus Langdell's introduction of the "casebook" approach to legal education yes, law students, this approach dates only from Even Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Why the "casebook" approach is still the centerpiece of law education in the U. White is a good writer and he paces all of this quite readably.

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He is also the author of a number of other books -- including a biography of Earl Warren for whom White clerked and a history of baseball -- but I believe this volume was one of his first. Law students will probably find it at least indirectly helpful. We all meet both Cardozo and Prosser early in the first year, and Traynor appears when we get to products liability; I personally liked having White's book on hand in order to place this stuff in its historical context.

And it will be of general interest to anyone who doesn't want the law to be handed over to a scholarly class of priests.

The format of the book -- small densely packed text -- only makes it worse. It's the sort of book that you have to read a sentence and then translate it back into english for yourself. Once you do that, you'll get a great understanding of how Torts have progressed from Holmes' day to the present. See all 3 reviews.

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