An Introduction to the Philosophy of LawPound, Roscoe
Philosophy
An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law
Pound, Roscoe
Law -- Philosophy
Controversial cases of liability without fault involve the third
postulate. Systematic writers have found no difficulty in reconciling
the law of negligence with the will theory of liability and the
doctrine of no liability without fault. Yet they must use the term
fault in a strained sense in order to fit our law of negligence with
its objective standard of due care, or the Roman cases of liability
for _culpa_ judged by the abstract standard, into any theory of moral
blameworthiness. The doctrine of liability for fault and for fault
only has its roots in the stage of equity and natural law, when the
moral and the legal are identified, and means that one shall respond
for injuries due to morally blameworthy conduct upon his part. As Ames
puts it, "the unmoral standard of acting at one's peril" is replaced
by the question, "Was the act blameworthy?" But is an act blameworthy
because the actor has a slow reaction time or was born impulsive or is
naturally timid or is easily "rattled" and hence in an emergency does
not come up to the standard of what a reasonably prudent man would do
in such an emergency, as applied _ex post facto_ by twelve average men
in the jury box? If our use of "culpable" here were not, as it were,
Pickwickian, we should allow the defendant in such cases to show what
sort of man nature had made him and to call for individualization with
respect to his character and temperament as well as with respect to
the circumstances under which he acted. As the Romanist would say, we
should apply a concrete standard of _culpa_. But what the law is
really regarding is not his culpable exercise of his will but the
danger to the general security if he and his fellows act affirmatively
without coming up to the standard imposed to maintain that security.
If he acts, he must measure up to that standard at his peril of
answering for injurious consequences. Whenever a case of negligence
calls for sharp application of the objective standard, fault is as
much a dogmatic fiction as is representation in the liability of the
master for the torts of his servant. In each case the exigencies of
the will theory lead us to cover up a liability irrespective of fault,
imposed to maintain the general security, by a conclusive imputation
of fault to one who may be morally blameless. This is no less true of
cases where we speak of "negligence _per se_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account