ABSTRACT
This Essay investigates how a particular category of torts – suits for injuries caused by dangerous products – has been seen alternatively as based in contact or criminal law – in addition to, or sometimes instead of, an independent doctrine sounding in tort that arises from a duty not to harm others. This category problem has plagued courts even though, since the 1850s, courts have held that manufacturers had a duty enforceable by private suit not to sell harmful products. The Essay tells the story of regulation of one very dangerous product, milk, in the late nineteenth century as a window into the meaning of how conduct is categorized, with reflections on the significance of putting torts at the periphery rather than the center. The meanings of legal categories map on to conceptions about how society should be governed that continue to be at the heart of many doctrinal and policy debates today.
Lahav, Alexandra D, Crime and Tort: Reflections on Legal Categories (May 8, 2023), DePaul Law Review, volume 72, no 2, 2023.
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