The Measure of Injury

Reviews / Votes

The Measure of Injuryis beautifully written. It lays out the basic concepts of tort law in simple terms that even a layperson (or first-year torts student) could easily follow. It then draws upon literally hundreds of cases to powerfully illustrate how these principles have played out in tort law in ways that are, as the book jacket promises, 'anything but gender and race neutral.' ... An extremely sophisticated work of historical and legal analysis that is so well written that first-year law students could use it as a supplement to their casebook... In short, this is great stuff for readers at every level. But tort junkies starved for more discussion of gender and race will find it particularly irresistible. (Journal of Legal Education) The book manifests a unique perspective on tort law that is well-explained and carefully developed, and it is one of the best written books on critical legal theory that I have read . - Michelle D. Deardorff (Law and Politics Book Review) This book asks important questions about the tort system. Tort law is largely taught and described from a doctrinal perspective that makes no attempt to see how it is actually working on the ground. This book assesses how the tort system fares in operation by examining how race and gender influence court decisions in torts cases. A promising direction for scholarship on the tort system. - Keith N. Hylton,Honorable Paul J. Liacos Professor of Law, Boston University Though one would barely know it from the law school casebooks, the American law of torts has been deeply shaped by race and gender. Chamallas and Wriggins have revealed heretofore unknown features in the plate tectonics oftort law. Their book should usher in a new era in the study of race and gender in the field. - John Fabian Witt,Yale Law School What kind of harms matter, and why? Steeped in the history of American tort law, Chamallas and Wriggins demonstrate how attitudes about race and gender run through the harms recognizedand not recognizedby American law. This book is brimming with insights about how societies do and should express what matters in assigning liability for human pain and loss. - Martha Minow,Dean of the Faculty of Law, Harvard Law School