In this book David Ibbetson exposes the historical layers beneath the modern rules and principles of contract, tort, and unjust enrichment. Small-scale changes caused by lawyers successfully exploiting procedural advantages are juxtaposed with changes caused by friction along the boundaries of these principal legal categories; fossilized remnants of old doctrines jostle with newer ideas in a state of half-consistent tension; and loose-knit rules of equity developed in the Chancery infiltrate themselves into more tightly controlled Common law structures.

What shapes the development of a legal system? The economy? Legal ideas? Social and political movements? Drawing on the other eight volumes in the series, European Legal Development: The Case of Tort aims to challenge conventional comparative law explanations of the factors that shape the law. It goes further into ideas that law could be conceived as either driven by external factors or is primarily the product of deliberations among lawyers. Choosing the examples of product and medical liabilities, the book considers the convergence of developments across legal systems. By contrast,...