Book Review: Legislative Loss Distribution in Negligence Actions

Abstract

This volume deals with two problems, contribution between tortfeasors and comparative negligence. Since every author must have a starting place at which certain presumptions underlie the subsequent processes of reasoning, Professor Gregory has taken as his point of departure the superiority of the principles of comparative negligence and contribution between wrongdoers over the prevalent common-law principles of contributory negligence as a complete defense to a plaintiff's action and the rule of no contribution between tortfeasors. He takes it as "self-evident" that these principles "furnish a theoretically fairer basis for loss distribution in negligence cases than the accepted principles of the common law." With this hypothesis as the basis for his discussion, he devotes the study to the administrative and procedural difficulties involved in the application in litigation of the principles of contribution and comparative negligence.