
Equal Justice
Eric Rakowski(Author)
Clarendon Press
Published on 5. September 1991
Book
Hardback
398 pages
978-0-19-824875-0 (ISBN)
Description
The core of this book is a novel theory of distributive justice premised on the fundamental moral equality of persons. In the light of this theory, Eric Rakowski considers three types of problem which urgently require solutions - the distribution of resources, property rights, and the saving of life - and provides challenging and unconventional answers. Further, he criticizes the economic analysis of law as a normative theory, and develops an alternative account of tort and property law.
Among the topics discussed are the principles by which earnings, wealth, and gifts should be taxed; whether the compulsory removal of organs for transplantation can be justified; how doctors and public officials should make life-or-death decisions when all those endangered cannot be helped in equal measure; and the morality of killing human beings and non-human animals.
Among the topics discussed are the principles by which earnings, wealth, and gifts should be taxed; whether the compulsory removal of organs for transplantation can be justified; how doctors and public officials should make life-or-death decisions when all those endangered cannot be helped in equal measure; and the morality of killing human beings and non-human animals.
Reviews / Votes
`A provocative, well-argued, elegantly written book that will root out any complacency that a reader might have had about these eternal issues on starting it.'Howard Davies, Times Higher Education Supplement
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
763 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-824875-0 (9780198248750)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Author
Acting Professor of LawActing Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
Content
Introduction; Part I. Equality of Fortune: The presumption in favor of equal shares; Voluntary choices and emergent inequalities; Ineluctable risks: illness and injury; Occupational preferences, effort, and desert; Unequal endowments; Gifts, bequests, and intergenerational obligations; Justice and the transfer of body parts; Part II. Corrective Justice: The problem of liability rules: the failings of wealth maximization as a normative ideal; Outline of a theory of corrective justice; Illustrations; Part III. Saving and Taking Life: Do numbers count when saving lives?; The relevance of personal characteristics to choices between lives; Killing people or animals to benefit others; Envoi; Bibliography; Index