Floodgates and accountability: issues in an orbital theory

The paper proposes a foundation for an orbital theory of accountability extending from negligent misstatement to consideration for the welfare of an unknowable posterity. Inner orbits of accountability are circumscribed by enforceable laws within any one jurisdiction. Middle orbits include stakeholders damage to whom is foreseeable, avoidable or clearly traceable to the firm's own action, omission or statement; but who have no legal remedy so their claim is largely moral, ethical and equitable. Outer orbits of accountability include animals, plants, posterity and any other being that is likely to be affected by the firm, but with whom the firm cannot have a bilateral, reciprocal and interactive relationship. In delineating the three orbits, discussion includes: the brain's role in defining subjective accountability; the effect of economic disembeddedness in keeping the inner orbit narrow; and the net present value of the interests of a posterity that may be infinite or infinitesimal.