ABSTRACT
Tort law is commonly thought to be individualist in character. Some tort law theorists celebrate its individualistic character. Intermediate communitarian theory recognizes that intermediate communities are crucial to the health of both the individual and the broader society. Abraham Kuyper was a philosopher, a theologian, founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, and prime minister of Holland. In his social philosophy, Kuyper responded to Rousseau’s Enlightenment individualism and Hegel’s collectivism with the notion of “sphere sovereignty". Kuyper shared the traditional Calvinist belief in the sovereignty of God. Tort theorists have tended to view life through individualist lenses. Robert A. Baruch Bush summarizes the “individual responsibility” principle underlying American tort law: “The individual is responsible for all he does, but for only what he does".
