Torts on Three Continents

Book excerpt: Professor Jane Stapleton is one of the world's leading experts on causation and has had a profound impact on tort law scholarship, both in terms of the incredible range of topics she has contributed to, and across the multiple countries she has worked in. Torts on Three Continents: Honouring Jane Stapleton brings together a group of scholars from Stapleton's 'home' country Australia, from the United Kingdom, where she spent much of her professional career, and the United States, where she has made such a significant contribution, to celebrate and honour her work. Torts on Three Continents reveals the impressive and enviable breadth of Jane Stapleton's scholarship while contributing to many of the ongoing and traditional debates in tort. The volume is split into four parts. The first part focuses on general themes that arise in Stapleton's work, including the academic influence on judges, the role of insurance in compensation, the impact of vulnerability on tort law and liability of public authorities. The second part considers aspects of liability in the tort of negligence, including duties of care for psychiatric harm. The third part is dedicated completely to causation, with three chapters from authors in three different countries reflecting on the impact of Stapleton's work in this area. The final section covers a variety of different aspects of tort law and compensation systems, including harms committed in the public interest, damage in economic torts, statutory product liability reforms and alternative compensation scheme design. Powerful and thought-provoking, this book will provide its readers with an appreciation of the magnitude of Jane Stapleton's contribution across the common law world, and a novel perspective on some of the more modern challenges faced in tort law.