Key Ideas in Tort Law

This book offers nine key ideas about tort law that will help the reader to understand its various social functions and evaluate its effectiveness in performing those functions. The book focuses, in particular, on how tort law can guide people’s behaviour, and the political and social environments within which it operates. It also provides the reader with a wealth of detail about the ideas and values that underlie tort ‘doctrine’—tort law’s rules and principles, and the way those rules and principles operate in practice. The book is an accessible introduction to tort law that will provide students, scholars and practitioners alike with a fresh and engaging view of the subject.


‘In this masterful and engaging survey, Peter Cane provides an array of illuminating perspectives on the law of torts, laying bare its nature, structure and functions, as well as its legal, social and political context.’

Andrew Robertson, Professor of Law, Melbourne Law School