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Rational Legal Decision-Making, Value Judgment, and Efficient Precaution in Tort Law

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  • Mingli Zheng
  • Sajid Anwar

Abstract

By reinterpreting Savage's axioms as axioms of the social rationality over resource allocations, we derive a social welfare function encompassing individual social values and a social attitude towards distributional inequality. Wealth maximization becomes the purpose of law only if individuals have equal social values and the society does not care about distributional inequality. In tort law, when the injurer is less socially valued than the victim, the society imposes a stricter due-precaution level, and punitive damages will be awarded. Tort law also implicitly transfers wealth from the less socially valued party to the more socially valued party.

Suggested Citation

  • Mingli Zheng & Sajid Anwar, 2005. "Rational Legal Decision-Making, Value Judgment, and Efficient Precaution in Tort Law," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 161(3), pages 411-427, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(200509)161:3_411:rldvja_2.0.tx_2-a
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    Cited by:

    1. Mingli Zheng, 2014. "Lobbying for wealth redistribution by changing the social planner’s preferences," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 26(1), pages 79-92, January.
    2. Mingli Zheng, 2018. "Subjective value judgments of distributive justice and legal decision-making," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 177-194, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • K49 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Other

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