reviews
Tort Law and How It’s Tied to Culture
by M. Stuart Madden, Esq.
URLink Print and Media
book review by Peter M. Fitzpatrick
"“…tort-type law, we can see that principles of economic efficiency have always been a part and parcel of civil remediations of wrongful harm."
In his highly informative work, the author posits that as soon as small social groups began to coalesce, man devised methodologies to maintain order by enforcing customs, norms, and peace through rules preventing such wrongs as theft, assault, battery, and negligence, to name a few. Written codes like that of Hammurabi and King Ur Nammu were the first known written laws, but it was the Greek penchant for myths such as those written down by Hesiod that led later Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato to devise detailed reasons for laws as the highest "good." The Roman law of twelve tables was revised by Solon and later expanded into the Codes, Institutes, and Digests (Pandects) of Justinian I that became practical customary law.
TORT LAW AND HOW IT'S TIED TO OUR CULTURE
December 2, 2019
“A comprehensive historical tour of tort law considers its development within a cultural and philosophical context. According to Madden, “Tort law has always represented a society’s revealed truth as to its better self, and further to so doing, has identified the behaviors it wishes to encourage and the behaviors it wishes to discourage.” As a consequence, a full appreciation of tort law’s historical unfolding requires a broad interpretive horizon that includes an analysis of socio-economic conditions, religious and philosophical commitments, and shifting cultural realities.
“The author’s approach is impressively expansive—he covers the birth of tort in ancient law, including the Torah, the Quran, and Tibetan folk law, through the partnership of common and statutory law in the present. Madden contends that tort law aims for a balance among justice, morality, and efficiency, and so its establishment not only expresses the heart of a culture, but also functions as a lucid gauge of progress. He also argues that the arc of tort law’s development has been one leaning toward scientific progress.
“The author examines a breathtaking swath of intellectual territory, including a keen consideration of the roles of myth and folklore, and offers delightfully unconventional views. For example, Madden deftly explores the extent to which the Goths appropriated Roman law. . . .. . . [A]n illuminating and insightful work about tort law.”