Torts and the Protection of "Legally Recognized" Interests

Sandra Hoffmann and Michael Hanemann ()

RFF Working Paper Series from Resources for the Future

Abstract: The law of torts plays an important role in completing the legal property rights system by defining the extent to which property is protected from harm. It does this by defining the kinds of interests that will be recognized and protected from harm by the courts, the duty of care owed these recognized interests by others, and the manner in which they will be protected through monetary compensation, restitution, or injunction. Together, these three elements of torts define a right in the “bundle of rights” that constitute property. In this paper, we develop a systematic approach to formalizing the nature of the property rights protected by tort law. We use this approach to reexamine the literature on compensation for nonpecuniary damages. This reexamination demonstrates how recognizing tort’s role in defining property rights and having a way of formalizing these rights can provide deeper insight into old questions torts scholarship.

Keywords: torts; property rights; liability; compensation; damages; insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D63 K0 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-08-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias and nep-law
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Related works:
Working Paper: Torts and the Protection of "Legally Recognized" Interests (2005)
Working Paper: Torts and the Protection of "Legally Recognized Interests" (2005)
Working Paper: Torts and the Protection of 'Legally Recognized Interests' (2005)
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