Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows why such a view is commendable and should be endorsed normatively, and how it can be relevant to tort law. It introduces the theoretical framework – an exposition of distributive justice, concepts of equality and a functional approach to law and tort law. The book explores the ways in which an egalitarian commitment can reshape tort law, presents the difficulties involved in an attempt to assess a rule’s equality effect, explains the two possible egalitarian recommendations, and sketches a framework for balancing the dictates of egalitarianism with other competing goals of tort law. It focuses on the issue of maternal prenatal duty and concludes, somewhat surprisingly, that a feminist-egalitarian approach might support a duty that hinges upon the existence of insurance.