Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-16-2018
Abstract
Unawareness is a form of bounded rationality where a person fails to conceive all feasible acts or consequences or to perceive as feasible all conceivable act-consequence links. We study the implications of unawareness for tort law, where relevant examples include the discovery of a new product or technology (new act), of a new disease or injury (new consequence), or that a product can cause an injury (new link). We argue that negligence has an important advantage over strict liability in a world with unawareness—negligence, through the stipulation of due care standards, spreads awareness about the updated probability of harm.
Scholarly Commons Citation
Chakravarty, Surajeet; Kelsey, David; and Teitelbaum, Joshua C., "Tort Liability and Unawareness" (2018). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2067.
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2067