登陆注册
5451600000005

第5章

This mode of thinking is entirely natural.The training of lawyers is a training in logic.The processes of analogy, discrimination, and deduction are those in which they are most at home.The language of judicial decision is mainly the language of logic.And the logical method and form flatter that longing for certainty and for repose which is in every human mind.But certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man.Behind the logical form lies a judgment as to the relative worth and importance of competing legislative grounds, often an inarticulate and unconscious judgment, it is true, and yet the very root and nerve of the whole proceeding.You can give any conclusion a logical form.You always can imply a condition in a contract.But why do you imply it? It is because of some belief as to the practice of the community or of a class, or because of some opinion as to policy, or, in short, because of some attitude of yours upon a matter not capable of exact quantitative measurement, and therefore not capable of founding exact logical conclusions.Such matters really are battle grounds where the means do not exist for the determinations that shall be good for all time, and where the decision can do no more than embody the preference of a given body in a given time and place.We do not realize how large a part of our law is open to reconsideration upon a slight change in the habit of the public mind.No concrete proposition is self evident, no matter how ready we may be to accept it, not even Mr.Herbert Spencer's "Every man has a right to do what he wills, provided he interferes not with a like right on the part of his neighbors."Why is a false and injurious statement privileged, if it is made honestly in giving information about a servant? It is because it has been thought more important that information should be given freely, than that a man should be protected from what under other circumstances would be an actionable wrong.Why is a man at liberty to set up a business which he knows will ruin his neighborhood? It is because the public good is supposed to be best subserved by free competition.

Obviously such judgments of relative importance may vary in different times and places.Why does a judge instruct a jury that an employer is not liable to an employee for an injury received in the course of his employment unless he is negligent, and why do the jury generally find for the plaintiff if the case is allowed to go to them? It is because the traditional policy of our law is to confine liability to cases where a prudent man might have foreseen the injury, or at least the danger, while the inclination of a very large part of the community is to make certain classes of persons insure the safety of those with whom they deal.Since the last words were written, I have seen the requirement of such insurance put forth as part of the programme of one of the best known labor organizations.There is a concealed, half conscious battle on the question of legislative policy, and if any one thinks that it can be settled deductively, or once for all, I only can say that I think he is theoretically wrong, and that I am certain that his conclusion will not be accepted in practice semper ubique et ab omnibus.

Indeed, I think that even now our theory upon this matter is open to reconsideration, although I am not prepared to say how I should decide if a reconsideration were proposed.Our law of torts comes from the old days of isolated, ungeneralized wrongs, assaults, slanders, and the like, where the damages might be taken to lie where they fell by legal judgment.But the torts with which our courts are kept busy today are mainly the incidents of certain well known businesses.They are injuries to person or property by railroads, factories, and the like.

The liability for them is estimated, and sooner or later goes into the price paid by the public.The public really pays the damages, and the question of liability, if pressed far enough, is really a question how far it is desirable that the public should insure the safety of one whose work it uses.It might be said that in such cases the chance of a jury finding for the defendant is merely a chance, once in a while rather arbitrarily interrupting the regular course of recovery, most likely in the case of an unusually conscientious plaintiff, and therefore better done away with.On the other hand, the economic value even of a life to the community can be estimated, and no recovery, it may be said, ought to go beyond that amount.It is conceivable that some day in certain cases we may find ourselves imitating, on a higher plane, the tariff for life and limb which we see in the Leges Barbarorum.

同类推荐
  • 随自意三昧

    随自意三昧

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 荣进集

    荣进集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 震泽纪闻

    震泽纪闻

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 金刚般若疏

    金刚般若疏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阳曲傅先生事略

    阳曲傅先生事略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 杰出青少年一生的行动计划

    杰出青少年一生的行动计划

    青少年风华正茂,无不渴望杰出。要成就杰出,就必须付出实际行动。但如何去行动,先做什么,后做什么?又该如何站在整个人生的高度,协调各方面因素制定贯穿一生的行动计划?本书总结众多杰出人物的人生经历,为青少年展现出一幅全面规划人生的宏伟蓝图,引导青少年有条不紊地开创成功卓越的人生。
  • 和莉莉一起跳舞的七个夜晚

    和莉莉一起跳舞的七个夜晚

    青年孔菲斯1912年乘坐海船从美国抵达漂来。麦边逊饭店主人埃利斯、日本军官高桥、俄国流民娜塔莎姐妹、美国少女珍妮、新派文人邵介惠、大买办邵三卿、革命者蒋桂芳和汪德龄、黑帮头子顾金坤、底层流民席路生……这是一群光怪陆离的众生相。青年孔菲斯与他们一起,见证着中国漂来这个东方巴黎在1912年帝制结束到1945年国内战争开始之间的悲欢历史。在这座海内外各色人等汇聚的中国城市遇到了梦中的姑娘,两个年轻人互生好感。但好景不长,两人随同众人庆祝革命者的婚礼时,内讧爆发。孔菲斯的心上人在逃亡过程中中枪死去。孔菲斯相信莉莉没有死去。他不能忘记和莉莉跳舞的七个夜晚,他开始了寻找莉莉的漫长之旅。
  • 西游山海志

    西游山海志

    钟神秀穿越到了一个是似而非的西游世界,还好身上有氪金买的八条黄金鲤鱼……不过,换到八个黄巾力士是什么鬼啊,说好的ssr了?……大清亡了。
  • 罪后霸宠

    罪后霸宠

    “朕是你的夫,你的天,你叫朕走开,想叫你的宇哥哥上吗?你给我记住,在你身上烙下印记的是朕,你要是敢背叛朕,朕就让你生不如死!”与敌人同归大海,却在一片乱葬岗中醒来,满目的尸体,浑身的鲜血,遗失的记忆和恶魔般的男人对她的百般凌辱,她,生不如死。真相大白,却只是为了一个可笑的误会,记忆回归,她带着一身绝技离开。飘逸如仙的男子将她从绝境救回,从此走进她的心里,可惜,相爱不能相守,一声炸响无情地摧毁了他们的婚礼,从此,咫尺天涯……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 邪王追爱:萌妃要爬墙

    邪王追爱:萌妃要爬墙

    安晴童鞋冒着傻气穿越而来,艾玛……这是哪路神仙,竟然将她扔到了死人堆儿里面?还莫名其妙的被人扣上了亡国公主的头衔,好在她也不亏,这不,遇到了个帅哥王爷俗话说的好,帅哥王爷有三好,好抱、好亲,好扑倒!虾米?冤枉她是亡国公主?说什么?指认她是女杀手……尼玛!可是,这个女杀手,咋和她长得一模一样呐?亡国公主?为了小命儿,暂时先当着,杀手……尼玛也太难当了,随时都有生命危险啊!不当,打死也不当!为今之计,三十六计走为上计!跑路!艾玛!这个帅哥王爷竟然穷追不舍,这可怎么办……【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 百魇夜行

    百魇夜行

    人都会做恶梦,但却很少有人知道噩梦的根源,是一群生存在梦境之中的异兽,名为梦魇。古人杂书典籍曾经记录过这些梦魇的奇幻与凶名,它们祸害梦境,迷魅精神,乱人心智,只有古老神秘的梦魇猎人们,可以诛灭梦魇,守卫人们的梦境。今天,梦魇猎人界的新人们,也像是普通的实习生一样,怒力工作着,走进那些惊悚不断,恶鬼群群,奇异诡谲的梦境,今晚,或许路过你的,或许,路过我的。
  • 商务合同大全集

    商务合同大全集

    本书根据我国最新颁布的《中华人民共和国合同法》和国家工商行政管理总局及其他有关部门制定、发布的合同示范文本编写。本书从合同的相关知识点入手,具体介绍了买卖合同、供用电水气热力合同、联营合同、转让加盟合并合同、赠予合同、借贷款合同、担保合同、租赁合同、融资租赁合同、承揽合同、劳动合同、服务合同、合伙合同、建设工程合同、运输合同、技术合同、出版合同、保管仓储合同、委托合同、行纪合同、居间合同的内容、格式和签订合同时应注意的问题。同时,本书还附上了《中华人民共和国合同法》以供参考。本书为读者进行商务活动签订合同时提供了详实的专业指导。
  • 一个经济学家眼中的别样世界

    一个经济学家眼中的别样世界

    这本书,就是我想和你一起分享的思考印记。作为共鸣三部曲的中间一本(前一本是《盗梦空间与亚当·斯密:电影与经济的思想共鸣》,后一本将是关于音乐与经济的思想共鸣),这本书记录了世俗与经济的思想共鸣,它也许不是你看到书名后想象到的样子,但希望你能从这里,发现不一样的经济世界,发现思考的无尽乐趣。
  • 轮回干预者

    轮回干预者

    前世,轮回,这些别人眼中虚无缥缈的东西,在我这里,就是一个道具~前世的能力我可以随意继承,每一世所掌握的技能叠加起来能让我走到何种高度?前世又是什么身份?科学天才,铁血杀手,纨绔子弟,占卜卦王,还是,只存在于传说中的神灵...世界这么大,只有我可以通晓前世,干预轮回!(第二本作品,粉丝群545699306,欢迎吐槽)
  • 看穿莫言

    看穿莫言

    本书从某种意义上说,就是意在看穿中国文学与中国当代生活的历史诉求、现实期待,并建设一种融入世界文学潮流的中国式表达及中国文学的现代精神。