Uncertainty in Comparative Law and Legal History

Auteur

Andrew J. Bell is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, UK, and a Fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law.

Joanna McCunn is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, UK.

Texte du rabat

This book investigates how the law has framed the most complex problems of uncertainty, when its rules for establishing facts cannot produce a satisfactory answer; dealt with uncertainty's often unclear boundaries; and developed a broad range of responses to solve or avoid it, exploring these issues from a comparative historical perspective.

Contenu

1. Known unknowns: uncharted waters; PART 1: Life and death; 2. 'In the beginning': dealing with 'unknowns' at the start of life; 3. Commorientes: deaths, disasters, disappearances; 4. The subtle conclusion: epistemic uncertainty and law at the end of life; PART 2: Causation and loss; 5. Causal uncertainty in tort law: the special case of mesothelioma; 6. Known unknowns: loss of a chance and intractable connections; 7. Quantifying or avoiding the unknown? Damages for future lost earnings in tortious personal injury cases; PART 3: Meanings and intentions; 8. Contractual interpretation and ad hominem rules of construction; 9. Unmixing intangible assets; PART 4: BROADER PERSPECTIVES ON LAW AND UNCERTAINTY; 10. A spectrum of uncertainty; 11. Known unknowns in Roman law: the second chapter of the lex Aquilia; PART 5: Conclusions; 12. Known unknowns: tracing a map