For those coming to the form of argument presented by Ripstein for the first time, a common reaction may be 'Can the law possibly be this clear and straightforward to understand?' To which the only possible response is yes. Yes it is. Anyone wishing to cut through the white noise that has come to surround private law in general, and ... Read morethe law of torts in particular, and hear the truth clearly expressed should read this book.
Robert Stevens, University of Oxford Ripstein is among the world's leading philosophers. In Private Wrongs he offers a derivation of tort law's complex body of rules from a foundational moral principle that is at once elegant, original, and ambitious. Scholars working in private law and in legal, moral, and political philosophy will be required to engage with it, and will want to.
John Goldberg, Harvard University This is a stellar book. Ripstein fully restores what might be called the pre-Holmesian, non-reductive, or classical account of tort law. He compels us to regard this classical view as a serious and morally significant option.
Martin J. Stone, Cardozo Law School Show Less