Theories of tort law have focused on the breach and causation components of negligence, saying little if anything about duty. This paper provides a positive economic theory of duty doctrine. The theory that best explains duty doctrines in tort law is the same as the theory that explains strict...

This entry for the forthcoming The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics (Second Edition) surveys the economic analysis of five primary fields of law: property law; liability for accidents; contract law; litigation; and public enforcement and criminal law. It also briefly considers some...

Article on the most recent developments in European Trade Mark Law for preventing cross-border trade mark grabbing. The article outlines the current state of play in Europe on when right owners are able to invalidate bad faith trade mark applications on the grounds of earlier use. It discusses...

This paper presents a model of penalties that reconciles the conflicting accounts optimal punishment by Becker, who argued penalties should internalize social costs, and Posner, who suggested penalties should completely deter offenses. The model delivers specific recommendations as to when...

When a company suffers loss due to a wrongful act perpetrated against the company, the company’s shareholders suffer where the value of their shares or dividends decreases. However, in the UK and in Commonwealth jurisdictions, such shareholders have in principle no personal recourse against...

This paper offers some reflections on the position advanced by the EFTA Court that a simple breach of EU public procurement law is in itself sufficient to trigger the contracting authority's liability in damages (Fosen-Linjen). I argue that this position is flawed because it deviates from...

Although federally- and state- chartered corporations function similarly, federal law privileges the former in at least one significant respect: their access to this nation’s federal courts. Pursuant to the language now codified in Section 1332 of the twenty-eighth title of the United States...

In its seventh personal jurisdiction decision since 2011, the Supreme Court in Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eight Judicial District Court ruled for the plaintiff and found jurisdiction, after six straight victories for defendants. All eight of the participating Justices found the "minimum contacts"...

Qualified immunity for police officers in the United States is a broken legal doctrine that needs Congressional legislative remedy; however, police qualified immunity does not need to be eliminated. It must be reformed. Over the past 4 months of diligent and focused research, analysis, and...

Distilled to its most basic sense, § 363(k) has always given secured creditor the right “credit bid,” or to use, up to the full amount of the debt owed to the secured creditor by the debtor, as currency in any sale of the collateral securing the debt owed to that claimant under § 363(b)...