Relational Justice: A Theory of Private Law
Hanoch Dagan author Avihay Dorfman author
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Publishing:21st Sep '26
£29.99
This title is due to be published on 21st September, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
What makes private law private? What is its domain? What are the values it promotes? Relational Justice: A Theory of Private Law addresses these foundational questions in a robust analysis of the key doctrines of private law, including torts, contracts, and restitution. Discarding the vision of private law as a bastion of negative duties of non-interference or efficiency maximization, this book reframes private law in terms of what it calls 'relational justice' reciprocal respect for self determination and substantive equality. By vindicating self-determination, private law can forge the horizontal interactions vital to the ability to shape and implement a conception of the good life. By structuring these interactions in terms requiring parties to respect one another for who they are, private law can cast them as interactions between equals. In the book's first part, the authors set out a normative position they term relational justice, whereby the rules of private law abide by the fundamental maxim of reciprocal respect for self-determination and substantive equality. The second part of the book applies this framework to an analysis of familiar private law doctrinal areas, followed by a third part charting newer areas including workplace safety, poverty, discrimination, and implications for transnational law. Throughout, the authors show how relational justice theory provides a normative vocabulary for evaluating core features of existing private law, while suggesting directions for necessary or desirable reforms.
Review from previous edition Relational Justice proposes a wholesale renovation of private law. Familiar theories remain caught between two equal but opposite vices: a quietist commitment to restoring the status quo; and flat-footed reduction of private law into a tool of public justice. Now Dagan and Dorfman argue that law should help people to establish reciprocal respect for self-determination and substantive equality, one private relationship at a time. They then apply this overarching insight to reconstruct all of private law doctrine, across both conventional topics—including remedies, negligence, and good faith—and unconventional ones—including poverty, discrimination, and even workplace safety. This is a hugely creative and ambitious book. * Daniel Markovits, Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, Yale Law School *
Going against the grain of fragmentation and relativism in contemporary private law and its theory, Dagan and Dorfman offer a comprehensive account with universal vocation of how the law should contribute to just interpersonal relations. This is grand theory at its best. * Martijn Hesselink, Professor of Transnational Law and Theory, European University Institute *
The book is a breakthrough achievement, first for showing the sheer need for some sort of theory of justice that might make our private law intelligible, and then for proposing one. The theory of relational justice the authors propose is morally attractive, and the proposed reforms they claim it requires are provocative, well-reasoned, and attainable. Their account will convince many, and will move others who may not be convinced by the theoryâs particulars to propose alternatives. The result will be a conversation which is long overdue. * Robin West, Professor of Law, Emerita, Georgetown University Law Center *
ISBN: 9780197921425
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
318 pages