Responsibility, Restoration and Fault

Responsibility, Restoration and Fault suggests how we could measure responsible behaviour. What criteria do our actions have to abide by to protect individuals and society? This is particularly relevant in a period where modern technology has not only multiplied the risks and degree of damage, but also created long causal chains that often make it difficult to see a connection between action and damage, and when the damaging effects on individuals or society only emerge decades later.

The author argues that a person’s behaviour is responsible if the following criteria are fulfilled simultaneously: (i) the person, whose behaviour could cause damage, would be able to restore the victim, (ii) the person, whose behaviour causes actual damage, restores the victim (both criteria of restoration) and (iii) the person is not at fault when determining and executing an act (criteria of fault).

With its historical and legal philosophical perspective Responsibility, Restoration and Fault is a must read for every lawyer.