Jane Stapleton
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199264070
- eISBN:
- 9780191698903
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264070.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
This chapter raises three points about regulating torts. First, using a regulatory lens as a broad supplemental perspective can illuminate legal research in some ways. It enables one to ask fruitful ...
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This chapter raises three points about regulating torts. First, using a regulatory lens as a broad supplemental perspective can illuminate legal research in some ways. It enables one to ask fruitful questions; for example, why tort remedies are not twinned with accountability regimes. Nevertheless, the regulatory lens can distort the picture by tending to identify incorrectly the concerns that influence those who construct the private law of torts: judges and the counsel that address them. Second, there is a real danger that the regulatory lens will be used to downgrade private law to the role of mere servant to a multi-layered system of governance. Third, in contrast to the claims Hugh Collins makes for contract law, in recent years tort law has not been called upon to play a significantly more pivotal role in the governance mechanisms of society than beforehand.Less
This chapter raises three points about regulating torts. First, using a regulatory lens as a broad supplemental perspective can illuminate legal research in some ways. It enables one to ask fruitful questions; for example, why tort remedies are not twinned with accountability regimes. Nevertheless, the regulatory lens can distort the picture by tending to identify incorrectly the concerns that influence those who construct the private law of torts: judges and the counsel that address them. Second, there is a real danger that the regulatory lens will be used to downgrade private law to the role of mere servant to a multi-layered system of governance. Third, in contrast to the claims Hugh Collins makes for contract law, in recent years tort law has not been called upon to play a significantly more pivotal role in the governance mechanisms of society than beforehand.
Colin Scott
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199264070
- eISBN:
- 9780191698903
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264070.003.0012
- Subject:
- Law, Legal Profession and Ethics
This chapter looks first at the potential of the regulatory lens in the constitutional sphere to illuminate the mechanisms for securing accommodation between political and legal systems. The second ...
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This chapter looks first at the potential of the regulatory lens in the constitutional sphere to illuminate the mechanisms for securing accommodation between political and legal systems. The second main section on constitutions as regulatory regimes takes as its focus the mechanisms by which constitutional norms are made effective within political practice. Thus, it considers how the exercise of power is controlled. The analysis sets out the hypothesis that compliance with constitutional norms by political actors represents one workable form of accommodation between law and politics. The third main section considers the other main set of mechanisms for securing such an alignment, which are concerned with the controls over the contents of constitutions and the mechanisms by which they may be modified. This section addresses the day-to-day practices of constitutional interpretation and change, the more formal processes of amendment, and processes of disruption to constitutional norms in revolutionary situations.Less
This chapter looks first at the potential of the regulatory lens in the constitutional sphere to illuminate the mechanisms for securing accommodation between political and legal systems. The second main section on constitutions as regulatory regimes takes as its focus the mechanisms by which constitutional norms are made effective within political practice. Thus, it considers how the exercise of power is controlled. The analysis sets out the hypothesis that compliance with constitutional norms by political actors represents one workable form of accommodation between law and politics. The third main section considers the other main set of mechanisms for securing such an alignment, which are concerned with the controls over the contents of constitutions and the mechanisms by which they may be modified. This section addresses the day-to-day practices of constitutional interpretation and change, the more formal processes of amendment, and processes of disruption to constitutional norms in revolutionary situations.
