Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1976

Abstract

The law of damages deals with the process of translating harm into dollars. It is not, however, a coherent body of knowledge. Rather, it consists of an amalgam of many concepts and rules having to do with fundamental policy questions about loss-shifting, risk-spreading, and allocation of functions between judge and jury. Because damages is a "non-subject," little attention is paid to it in law school curricula and there is little writing about it. As one commentator put it, the law of damages "plods its way, ignored by academicians and 'accepted' by the courts. . . . The 'winds of change' sweeping over other areas of law rarely stir the law of damages. There are a few ripples here and there, to be sure, but no one gets too excited."

Comments

Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.


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