Inclusive Curriculum

This article is intended to be both a primer that introduces a few of the major components of feminist theory and a way of examining negligence law to see how it perpetuates traditional male values and perspectives. Tort law needs to be a system of response and caring than it is now. Feminist themes, e.g. a responsibility-oriented ethics, are critical to a "re-vision" of our tort-law system. The author concludes we must eliminate the power structures that perpetuate domination and subordination within tort law.

This Note proposes legal reforms that remedy the harms of police misconduct. Specifically, this reform imposes strict tort liability on municipalities for wrongful police harms upon a finding that the resulting injury was wrongful in a criminal proceeding. This Note strives to (1) achieve the socially optimal policing level; (2) favors policies that assign responsibility to actors for harms they commit at exactly the level that best fits their conduct; and (3) assumes a policy interest in legal and social equality on the basis of race. In Part IV, this Note briefly examines how modern policing is an activity "not of common usage."

This Washington Post opinion piece argues that it is the prerogative of state lawmakers — not the federal government — to change rules of state law that stand in the way of imposing legal responsibility for police violence.

This case involves a Terry Stop, wrongful arrest, and excessive force against an African-American man. In an unusual but welcome turn, then Chief Judge of the Northern District of Ohio permitted a Section 1983 claim – a constitutional tort claim against a police officer -- to go to trial, and also permitted some of the plaintiff's state tort claims to go to trial. In the end, qualified immunity applied, but at the very least, it is a case that shows a way for the legal system to admit its mistakes.

This article argues that the Common Sense Legal Reform Act radically departs from the common law and will likely have unanticipated negative impacts on ordinary citizens, like undermining the role of women, blue collar workers and ordinary consumers. This Article dispels the unsupported allegation that there is either a punitive damages or pain and suffering crisis, and suggests that federal tort reform increases the chances that the taxpayer will bear the cost of injuries that should be borne by the wrongdoer.

This podcast episode asks: "What are the police for?" The podcasters chat about a wild story of a stabbing on a New York City subway train, and the realization that, according to the law, the police don’t always have to protect us. A discussion on special duty begins at 27:35 and contains an interview with Prof. John Goldberg, a Tort Law textbook author.

Ten original essays written by feminist legal scholars from the UK, US, Canada and Australia encompass a range of ways of thinking about women, tort law and feminism. The collection provides a fresh and original analysis of issues, including conceptions of harm, constructions of reasonableness, the duty of care, the public/private divide, sexual wrongdoing, privacy and environmental law.