Venturing to Do Justice : Reforming Private Law / Robert E. Keeton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Keeton, Robert E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Judicial process--United States.

Law reform--United States.

Torts--United States.

Local Subjects:

Judicial process--United States.

Law reform--United States.

Torts--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (189 p.)

Edition:

Reprint 2014

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Since 1958 state courts of last resort in the United States have handed down a notably larger number of overruling decisions than ever before. This distinctive record raises many questions about how and by whom law reform should be effected. Mr. Keeton examines this issue in relation to private law the branch of law concerned with the rights and duties of private individuals toward each other, enforceable through civil proceedings. In the first part of this book, the author reviews methods of law reform. He focuses on the role of the courts and legislatures as agencies of abrupt change; the remarkable rate at which the role of the courts has grown; and the means by which courts may discharge their increased responsibility for changing private law to meet contemporary needs. He strongly urges a more active and imaginative participation in law reform by both courts and legislatures, and proposes concrete methods for achieving it. In the second part of this book, Mr. Keeton concentrates on reform in two important areas of private law: harms caused by defective products and by traffic accidents. He considers the developing rules for strict liability, and discusses the issues of principle underlying the basic protection plan for traffic victims--a proposal, of which he is co-author, which is under consideration in a number of state legislatures. The closing chapter treats problems stemming from the necessity of blending the old with the new when private law reform is undertaken. This discussion stresses one of the book's recurring themes: the need to balance stability and predictability of law with flexibility and reform. The author disposes of some misconceptions about the role of public policy in a workable legal system-misconceptions that sometimes affect the attitudes and thinking not only of professionals in the field of law, but also of those who see the system from the outside. This book contains controversial ideas that will be of interest to all who are concerned with law reform, whether professionally or as informed citizens.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Preface

Contents

Part One: Changing Processes of Law Reform

Chapter 1. Courts and Legislatures as Agencies of Abrupt Change

Chapter 2. Prospective Judicial Lawmaking

Chapter 3. Occasions for Prospective or Retroactive Overruling

Chapter 4. Evolutionary Revision of Legal Doctrine in Courts

Chapter 5. Juries and Trial Judges as Agencies of Law Reform and Administration

Chapter 6. Drafting and Interpreting Statutes

Part Two: Two Areas of Major Substantive Change

Chapter 7. Harms from Products and Services

Chapter 8. Harms from Traffic Accidents

Part Three: A Perspective on the Future

Chapter 9. Blending Old and New

Appendix. Index

Appendix. Overruling Decisions of a Decade 1958-1967

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-674-49719-8

OCLC:

1013954631