Essay on Tort Law History

Prior to the industrialization of America and England in the early 19th century tort law had a limited scope primarily due to a lack of diversity and lack of quantity in tort cases. However with large factories and railroads grew a complex relationship between employee, employer and consumer. Due to this it was necessary for the legal system to re examine lines of reasoning. Despite academics such as Friedman suggesting that the law became a tool for those few at the top of the new economic structure, it is more reasonable to concede that law was unable to stagnate in a period of such rapid development.
Among those projecting the view of a law driven by economics are Horswitch and Friedman. Central to their argument is that tort law reasoning was dramatically altered in both the United States and Great Britain to benefit the new technology to the detriment of individual justice. …