Public Tort Liability: Recommending an Alternative to Tort Liability and No-Fault Compensation

Hassan El Menayawi seeks to briefly describe the characteristics of two legal regimes: the no-fault compensation and tort liability. No-fault compensation is primarily characterized by the compensation of any person who experiences personal injury without having to demonstrate that it is caused by the fault of another person. On the other hand, in tort liability, the decision whether to compensate a plaintiff is determined primarily on the basis of whether the defendant committed a fault. After examining the advantages and disadvantages of each regime, he seeks to demonstrate that it is possible to combine the advantages of no-fault compensation and tort liability in an alternative, third regime that he calls "public tort liability". Public tort liability is premised on the idea that the state ought to compensate all victims of injury regardless of whether they committed a fault, but also pursue those who committed a wrong in order to hold them accountable.