Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
ISSN
0043-0420
Publisher
Washburn University, School of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
This paper, prepared for the 2001 Washburn Torts Seminar, argues that tort law has some properties that make it superior to statute-based regulatory schemes as a system of environmental protection. In particular, two arguments, one based on enforcer-malfeasance and one based on information, suggest that tort law is preferable to statutory regulation. I sketch these arguments and apply them to nuisance law. The result is a set of conditions or rules-of-thumb for determining where tort law is preferable to environmental regulation. The framework implies that emission standard regulation can and should be implemented without preempting nuisance law.
Recommended Citation
Keith Hylton,
When Should We Prefer Tort Law to Environmental Regulation?,
41
Washburn Law Journal
515
(2002).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/787
SSRN URL
https://ssrn.com/abstract=285264
Comments
Boston University School of Law Working Paper Series, Law and Economics Working Paper No. 01-11