Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:36:11.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - The notion of pure economic loss and its setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2009

Mauro Bussani
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Trieste
Vernon Valentine Palmer
Affiliation:
Tulane University, Louisiana
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Pure economic loss is one of the most discussed topics of European tort law scholarship. Fascination with the subject (which may at first glance appear dry and technical) has developed into a wealth of literature about this frontier notion. It stands at the cutting edge of many questions: how far can tort liability expand without imposing excessive burdens upon individual activity (or, as some may wish, to what extent should tort rules be compatible with the market orientation of the legal system)? How should the tort law of the twenty-first century – or the provisions of a projected European code – approach this issue? As a matter of policy, should the recovery of pure economic loss be the domain principally of the law of contract? To these and others we add our own modest question: is there a common core of principles, policies and rules governing tortious liability for pure economic loss in Europe? There has never been a universally accepted definition of ‘pure economic loss’. Perhaps the simplest reason is that a number of legal systems neither recognize the legal category nor distinguish it as an autonomous form of damage. Nevertheless, where the concept is recognized, as in Germany and common law systems, it is apparently associated with a rule of no liability and there a definition is likely to be found. The contrasting approaches here obviously do not follow the familiar common law/civil law divide, for civil law is itself divided to some extent over this question.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×