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Additional Physical Format: | Electronic version: 9780192550736 |
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Document Type: | Book |
All Authors / Contributors: |
John Gardner |
ISBN: | 9780198818755 9780198851851 0198851855 0198818750 |
OCLC Number: | 1194930457 |
Notes: | "This book ... is a descendant of my eponymous Quain Lectures, delivered at University College London in 2014"--Preface |
Description: | viii, 242 p. ; 23 cm |
Contents: | 1. Something came between us -- Relations of duty -- One thought too many, one reason too few -- Some doubts about strict relationality -- Strict relationality in legal relations -- The duty of care -- The relationality of rights -- 2. That's the story of my life -- The ins and outs of wrongdoing -- The biography argument -- From biography to responsibility -- Where justice comes in -- The allocation of outcomes in life and law -- 3. It's not about the money -- The clamour for amends -- On reconciliation -- Reparation and rational continuity -- The reparative uses of money -- How reparation gets personal -- From the personal to the interpersonal -- Wrongs and losses -- 4. Say it with flowers -- The irreparable remains -- Reasonable emotions -- Making apology intelligible -- Putting your money where your mouth is -- Say it with money; say it with flowers -- 5. The way things used to be -- Holding on and letting go -- Reasons for holding on -- No life without a past -- From holding on to going back -- Some unexplained points -- Justice in security -- 6. That was then and this is now -- Private law as a scheme of freedom -- The powers of the parties -- The enforcer -- Putting it behind us -- Into the sunset, carrying the loot. |
Responsibility: | John Gardner. |
Abstract:
Mounting a lawsuit against someone who has wronged you is a prospect no less fearful than being on the receiving end of such a lawsuit. Litigation in the courts has a reputation for being a byzantine process far removed from ordinary life, often failing to address people's real grievances while adding to their pain. Yes, there is money to be had if you win. But beyond that, what is it all in aid of? In this book John Gardner argues that, in spite of their legal intricacy, many of the questions that perennially occupy the courts in civil cases are actually timeless puzzles about the human condition. The architecture of the law of torts and the law of contract turns out to track the contours of personal life much more closely than you might expect. Using a wide range of examples from literature and life as well as law, Gardner explores big questions about our relationships to our own pasts and our own futures as well as to other people. What are friends for? Why does it matter how your actions turn out? What is the good of saying sorry? Why regret your mistakes? How can anyone be compensated for an irreversible loss? Why would you want to hold onto the life you already have? And what does any of this have to do with all those protracted legal disputes about damaged cars, ruined holidays, and leaky roofs?--
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