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The Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law$
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David G. Owen

Print publication date: 1997

Print ISBN-13: 9780198265795

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: March 2012

DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198265795.001.0001

Wrongdoing, Welfare, and Damages: Recovery for Non-Pecuniary Loss in Corrective Justice

Chapter:
(p. 409 ) Wrongdoing, Welfare, and Damages: Recovery for Non-Pecuniary Loss in Corrective Justice
Source:
The Philosophical Foundations of Tort Law
Author(s):

BRUCE CHAPMAN

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198265795.003.0019

This chapter offers a slightly different account of what corrective justice requires for the payment of monetary damages. Specifically, it argues that while corrective justice does require full compensation for the costs of future care, at least in so far as these involve pecuniary losses, and does require full compensation for the loss of future earnings, it does not require full compensation for non-pecuniary losses. This is true despite the fact that such losses have been caused by the defendant’s wrongdoing, and lie within its ambit. The reason for this is that corrective justice corrects for wrongdoing within the space of rights, not welfare. While welfare under the aspect of rights is ultimately attended to by a damages award under corrective justice, the fact that monetary damages can have no utility for the correction of non-pecuniary welfare losses under this aspect is decisive against the award of such damages.

Keywords:   corrective justice, payment, monetary damages, pecuniary losses, compensation, non-pecuniary losses, rights, welfare, wrongdoing

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