Common Law and Civil Law Perspectives on Tort Law

The book offers a comparative overview of the law of civil liability for injuries arising outside of contract in five legal systems: England, the United States, France, Germany and Italy. The book analyzes a selected number of foundational tort law issues, taking them as points of comparison for appreciating commonalities and differences between and within the common law and the civil law traditions. The analysis covers the structure and context of tort law architectures, the role of negligence and the continuum between fault and strict liability, rules on recovery for personal injuries, non-economic losses and for pure economic losses, tests and approaches to causation, medical malpractice and products liability. As such, the book provides an updated framework for understanding tort law rules, theories, styles of reasoning and cultures across the Atlantic.