This is a highly original piece of analytical research on a subject which has hitherto lurked in the shadows.

David Glass, Law Society Gazette

The law of mitigation determines how a claimant's own response to a breach affects the damages they can recover. It responds to the basic accusation: 'although I did wrong, you made things worse'. Mitigation applies to all claims for compensation, regardless of the claimant's cause of action and irrespective of the defendant's level of fault. It is amongst the most litigated doctrines in private law and has significant implications for general theories of damages, and yet has received relatively little scholarly attention to date. Mitigation in the Law of Damages provides the first comprehensive theoretical and doctrinal treatment of this important area of the law in any common law jurisdiction. It argues that contrary to the leading texts on damages, judges have been right all along to explain mitigation as an aspect of causation. But to see why, we must look beyond the 'but-for' concept of causation and understand the 'common-sense' causal principles used to attribute responsibility outside the law. This approach reveals a new understanding of the rules of mitigation and their relation to other doctrines. The implications are wide-ranging. First, mitigation applies symmetrically to benefits as well as harms, and encompasses a variety of damages doctrines that have previously been regarded as distinct. Second, the new account of mitigation advances our understanding of the legal concepts of causation, choice, and loss, and calls for a re-evaluation of existing theories of damages. Third, the book revives and develops arguments from Hart and Honoré's ground-breaking work 'Causation in the Law', with implications for every area of law where causal reasoning is invoked. Original and thought-provoking, Mitigation in the Law of Damages restates and explains the law of mitigation in a way that is accessible to both academics and practitioners.
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Although the mitigation of a loss in a tort or breach of contract case is now the most litigated doctrine in private law it still lacks a sound theoretical basis on which to regularly apply the doctrine. This monograph is the first to analyse its history and development and make a case for its lasting importance in common law systems.
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PART 1. ORTHODOXY 1: The Orthodox Account of Mitigation 2: The Avoidable Loss Rule 3: The Avoided Loss Rule 4: Flawed Explanations of Mitigation PART 2. EXPLANATION 5: Developing the Causal Explanation 6: Mitigation as Causation 7: Puzzles Resolved PART 3. RESTATEMENT 8: Avoidable Loss 9: Avoided Loss 10: The Market Rule 11: Relationship to Other Doctrines 12: Conclusion
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Dr Andy Summers is an Associate Professor of Law at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Before joining LSE, he studied Law at Cambridge and Oxford, completing his doctorate on the law of mitigation at Corpus Christi College Oxford, under the supervision of James Edelman and Edwin Peel. Dr Summers has published articles in leading journals on several aspects of private law spanning contracts, torts, and trusts, with a particular focus on the law of damages. Within private law theory, his main research interests concern the legal concepts of loss and causation.
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The first comprehensive treatment of the law of mitigation in any common law jurisdiction Overturns conventional textbook accounts of the legal rules of mitigation Engages with contemporary debates about the theoretical structure of the law of damages Revives and develops insights from Hart and Honoré's ground-breaking work 'Causation in the Law' Explains the relationship between mitigation and other doctrines in the law of damages Accessible to both academics and practitioners, addressing both theory and doctrine
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198825333
Publisert
2024
Utgiver
Oxford University Press
Vekt
654 gr
Høyde
240 mm
Bredde
160 mm
Dybde
30 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
336

Forfatter

Biografisk notat

Dr Andy Summers is an Associate Professor of Law at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Before joining LSE, he studied Law at Cambridge and Oxford, completing his doctorate on the law of mitigation at Corpus Christi College Oxford, under the supervision of James Edelman and Edwin Peel. Dr Summers has published articles in leading journals on several aspects of private law spanning contracts, torts, and trusts, with a particular focus on the law of damages. Within private law theory, his main research interests concern the legal concepts of loss and causation.