Who Cares?: The Profound History of Liability Law

Law today misnames civil liability as tort law when instead we should call it the law of care or better yet the law of love. Dont be surprised that law has always concerned itself so much with love. This book examines the earliest recovered law fragments from 4500 years ago reflecting even then the venerated law of care. Chapters survey civil-liability laws from Hammurabis Code 4000 years ago to the Covenant Code 3500 years ago Christ 2000 years ago Roman codes 1500 years ago old-English laws 1000 years ago and natural-law treatises 500 years ago up to the Declaration of Independence and early American jurists 200 years ago. All knew and reflected cares critical value to law. Civil-liability law needs this historical and philosophical perspective given its present political attention special-interest lobbying propaganda-like attacks judicial reversals and piecemeal and no-fault legislation. Materialism strips civil-liability law of history dignity and value replacing the law of care with utilitarian doctrines calling care a burden cost or loss. Care is instead laws organizing concept prime goal and principal value. We need to know what civil liability meant from beginning of recorded time how the wise handed it down through the ages and what it means to us today. We need a natural history of the law of love. Who cares? We should all care. Love harms no neighbor but instead fulfills the law.