arbiter
JournalsAccount

Rationalising Recovery for Emotional Harm in Tort Law

Eric Descheemaeker

Law Quarterly Review2017article
ABDC A*
Weight
0.34

Abstract

The recovery of emotional harm - mental distress in the widest sense of the term - has long bedevilled the law of tort. Whereas the compensation of financial loss appears systematic and grounded in clear principles, that of harms on the other side of the divide between “having” and “being” seems the realm of haphazardness. This article is a search for general principles in a field that has largely eschewed them. It argues that, properly examined and understood, the law does in fact closely approximate a strikingly simple proposition, namely, that every wrong entitles the claimant to compensation for the ensuing emotional harm. This should be recognised and worked out systematically. It also explores some of the implications of, difficulties with, and alternatives to this proposition.

2 citations

Cite this paper

@article{eric2017,
  title        = {{Rationalising Recovery for Emotional Harm in Tort Law}},
  author       = {Eric Descheemaeker},
  journal      = {Law Quarterly Review},
  year         = {2017},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Rationalising Recovery for Emotional Harm in Tort Law

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.34

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.00 × 0.4 = 0.00
M · momentum0.80 × 0.15 = 0.12
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.