This book discusses the dominant corrective justice and distributive
justice approaches to private law and identifies their strengths and
weaknesses. It goes on to propose a general approach to private law,
including contract, tort and private property, and explains how it can
provide solutions to some longstanding problems.
Two general ideas inform this approach: the 'standpoint limitation' and
'remedial consistency'. The standpoint limitation explains the
distinctive character of private law, that is to say why it is focussed
mainly, though not exclusively, on particular individual interests
rather than the common welfare. Remedial consistency explains the way in
which remedies depend on and give effect to primary rights.
The book also discusses the nature of common law legal reasoning and its
relationship to the suggested understanding of private law.