What is a Tort?
Summary
Harvard Law Review's What Is a Tort? argues that tort law's core is moral responsibility for infringing rights against injury, not relational wrongs. It contrasts Cardozo's Palsgraf perspective (torts as relational wrongs) with a 'pigeonhole' view (torts as remedial liability rules) and defends CFD: Liability for Culpable and Foreseeable Damage, meaning those who consciously and foreseeably risk infringing rights must compensate victims. The piece uses civil law analogies and doctrinal analysis to suggest avenues for doctrinal reform.