Bloom on Tort’s Radiating Effects

Anne Bloom (Pacific-McGeorge) has posted to SSRN The Radiating Effect of Torts.  The abstract provides:

The radiating effects of torts should be of great interest. As in other areas of the law, tort practices generate normative messages that influence public discourse and behavior. Somewhat curiously, however, scholarly inquiry into these radiating effects has been limited largely to questions about deterrence. The aim of this essay is two-fold.  The first is to explore how tort law influences social norms and practices in ways other than deterrence.  The second is to suggest how greater attention to these other radiating effects might reveal the almost entirely unexplored role of tort law in shaping social hierarchies.

–CJR