ABSTRACT
Tort law is commonly presented as a collection of doctrinal categories – intentional torts, negligence, recklessness, and strict liability – each governed by distinct elements and internal tests. This compartmentalized presentation obscures a deeper structural unity underlying tort responsibility.
This article argues that tort liability is best understood as the interaction of three structural variables: (1) volitional conduct as the entry point of responsibility, (2) the intensity of risk creation, and (3) the direction of risk toward legally protected interests. These variables form a coordinate system capable of locating all major tort doctrines within a unified framework.
By separating risk intensity from risk direction, the model clarifies the relationship between negligence, recklessness, and intentional torts, explains the logic of transferred intent without relying on mental-state fictions, and situates product liability within the same structural chain as other forms of responsibility. Tort law thus emerges not as a patchwork of historical doctrines, but as a coherent system for attributing responsibility through structured patterns of risk and relational direction.
Chen, Hung Chi, A Structural Model of Tort Liability: Risk, Direction, and the Geometry of Responsibility (January 29, 2026).
Leave a Reply