Economic Analysis of Tort Liability

Tort law has been one of the first fields of law to be analyzed from an economic point of view. Tort law is majorly concerned with accidental injuries. Its purposes are twofold, viz., to compensate the victims and to deter unreasonably dangerous behavior. The economic theory of tort law emphasizes on the deterrence aspect of tort law. It is based on the impression that liability for accidental injuries should be allocated, so as to minimize the expected costs of accidents, including the harm suffered by victims and the cost of precautions by injurers and victims. This work is an attempt to simplify some of the existing work on the subject. This work aims to analyze the tort liability from an economic point of view. This work does not take into account each and every concept of tort law but only a selection of them which are more directly related to the tort law than others and all of them come together cohesively to form a seamless body of study as is the aim of this work This Work outlines a general economic approach of the tort law showing that all efficient rules must define negligent behavior as inefficient behavior and must hold an individual liable depending upon his liability. Further, this work also provides a brief insight into product liability under tort law from an economic point of view