This is a survey of legal liability for accidents. Three general aspects of accident liability are addressed. The first … is the effect of liability on incentives, both whether to engage in activities (for instance, whether to drive) and how …-bearing and insurance, for the liability system acts as an implicit insurer for accident victims and it imposes risk on potential …

Liability and safety regulation are examined as means of controlling risks in a theoretical model of the occurrence of … knowledge about risk -- nor does liability result in that outcome -- because the incentives it creates are diluted by the chance … that parties would not be sued for harm done or would not be able to pay fully for it. Thus, either liability could turn …

Liability in tort and the regulation of safety are considered as means of controlling accident risks using the … instrumentalist, economic method of analysis.Four general determinants of the relative social desirability of liability and regulation … observed to be made between liability and regulation are, when broadly viewed, socially rational: Notably, activities that …