Speaker: Dr Haris Psarras, University of Cambridge: 'Ascription of Responsibility and the Duty of Care in Negligence Law'
In the course of arguments for the abandonment of the duty of care as a separate element of liability in negligence law, the status of the duty of care as a duty has also been denied. In response to these arguments, defences of the duty of care as an actual duty have chiefly proceeded on the basis that it is a legal duty. After overviewing key instances of this debate, this paper claims that the status of the duty of care as a duty can be better defended through calling attention to the fact that it is a moral duty with a specific function in establishing liability in negligence. This function is the ascription of responsibility to the defendant, such that, if it were not ascribed, the ascription of liability to her would ordinarily be morally arbitrary.
Speaker: Jacob Eisler, University of Cambridge: 'Disorder and Renewal in the Law of Product Liability: Consumer Autonomy and Moral Luck'
This seminar is open to all LLM, MCL and PhD students, Faculty members and Faculty visitors.
