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Tort Reform by Contract by Paul H. Rubin, The AEI Press, Washington, D.C., 1993.
Paul Rubin's Tort Reform by Contract is intended to make a strong case for allowing producers of goods and services to make enforceable contracts that limit the liability of producers for harms suffered by consumers in using the good and services. On the surface, such an argument seems far removed from the focus of a practicing forensic economist, who is normally concerned with measuring damages under tort law as it exists now, not as it might be reformed in the future. However, Rubin's short (84 page) monograph provides a surprisingly useful introduction to the law and economics of tort damages in general. Many practicing forensic economists have only a casual understanding of the kinds of issues that are central to debates in law and economics but could greatly benefit from increasing that understanding. Rubin's short monograph is an easy first step for persons with no background and is a cogent work for those who have already acquired some background in these issues, even where the reader might disagree with Rubin's conclusions.
Rubin notes at the outset that there are two types of situations involving accidents that cause harms relevant to tort damage recoveries: situations in which the injurer and the victim are strangers and situations in which the two parties have some relationship before the injury. His thesis that many problems with the tort system could be reduced by private contracting is restricted to the second category in which some kind of...