Economics of Remedies

Remedies in different legal fields have much in common, and the study of remedies can teach us a lot, especially when the goals of the substantive legal fields are similar. Consider tort law and contract law. Under its efficiency rationale, tort law should minimize social costs, thereby enhancing social welfare. In order to achieve this goal, tort law should provide incentives for both the injurer and the victim to take efficient precautions. Similarly, contract law should also provide the parties with efficient incentives, in order to enable them to maximize the contractual surplus. In both torts and contracts, providing the injurer/promisor and the victim/promisee with efficient incentives is done through a combination of substantive and remedial law. Thus, both legal fields share much in common and often are adapted to the legal context to which they apply. The chapter emphasizes the common denominators of the remedies in torts and contracts.