Category Archives: Tort
Friehe and Teitelbaum, ‘Background Risk and Optimal Liability Rules’
ABSTRACT We study how background risk affects optimal liability rules in a unilateral accident model with risk-averse parties. Under negligence, background risk borne by a prudent victim raises the optimal due-care standard relative to the benchmark case without background risk. Under strict liability, the optimal level of damages is higher when the prudent victim faces […]
Kiwumulo George, ‘The harms caused by the Internet of Things: categorising damage and legal liability under the EU and UK liability frameworks’
ABSTRACT The Internet of Things blurs the line between virtual and physical worlds. Increasingly, adaptive and autonomous IoT systems have changed the way we interact socially and economically; emerging technology will continue to integrate pervasive IoT systems into society. These systems are increasingly complex, and the likelihood of harm is high. Existing laws and regulations […]
Hong Wu, ‘The Duty-of-Care Dilemma of Companion AI in Mental Health: Care Ethics and Regulatory Responses under EU Law’
ABSTRACT Companion AI in mental health, anthropomorphic conversational systems providing emotional support across sustained periods of use, has moved from prototypes to mass-market products, and recent suicide cases in Europe and beyond have brought its risks to the centre of EU digital governance. This article argues that the EU’s regulatory framework, the AI Act, the […]
Engstrom and Qian, ‘How Tort Law Drives Change’
ABSTRACT Tort law is conventionally understood as a blunt, backward-looking, money-moving instrument. On the standard account, tort law promotes safety – if at all – by forcing defendants to internalize the costs of accidents. Money, in other words, is the sine qua non of tort’s deterrent effect – the system’s engine, and beating heart. This […]
Sohum Pal, ‘Consent and Coercion, in Sex and in Contracts’
ABSTRACT This Essay begins with the assertion that sex should be thought of as a domain of private law and proceeds to analyze it as such through a juxtaposition with the more securely private law domain of contracts. Part I examines and critiques the existing models of sexual consent and feminist proposals for consent reform, […]
Martha Chamallas, ‘Power and Vulnerability in the Torts Restatement: Vicarious Liability for Sexual Assault’
ABSTRACT Historically, most courts have refused to impose vicarious liability on employers for sexual assaults inflicted by their employees, applying the traditional view that sexual assaults are outside the scope of employment because they do not further the interests of the employer. However, in the past few decades, the tide has turned, with many courts […]
Martínez-Ramil and Kerikmäe, ‘Who is Accountable for the Algorithm? Assessing the Effectiveness of the EU’s Approach Towards AI Liability’
ABSTRACT This chapter examines the European Union’s approach to civil liability for artificial intelligence systems. It considers how responsibility should be allocated when AI systems cause harm, taking into account the technical complexity of the AI lifecycle and the multiple actors involved in the design, development, deployment and operation of AI systems. Against this background, […]
Urs Schweizer, ‘Damages Rules Implementing Desired Outcomes’
ABSTRACT This paper deals with tort relationships where some parties are directly involved, others indirectly. Only directly involved parties choose actions relevant for the case. The desired outcome reflects concerns also of indirectly affected parties and, for that reason, need not maximize welfare of the directly involved parties. Damages rules compensatory relative to such a […]
‘Roderick Bagshaw on the Tort of Unlawful Means Conspiracy’
The Tort Law Research Group’s fall term public lecture was held on September 24, 2026. The speaker was Professor Roderick Bagshaw of the University of Oxford. His talk was entitled ‘Unlawful Means Conspiracy: Time to Say Goodbye?’. His core contention was that it is not time to abolish the tort because it continues to provide […]
Hyder, Tamanna and Hossaini, ‘Judicial Trends to Tort Claims in Bangladesh: Impediments and Way-out’
ABSTRACT This study critically examines the recent judicial evolvement in the area of law of torts in Bangladesh, focusing on recent judicial trends, challenges and suggest potential reforms to improve the tort law enforcement. This research is primarily qualitative by relying on legal statutes, case laws, academic literature, books, commentaries and journal articles to assess […]