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Howells, Geraint --- "Product Liability" [2006] ELECD 203; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420130

Section: Chapter 52

Section Title: Product Liability

Author(s): Howells, Geraint

Number of pages: 9

Extract:

52 Product liability*
Geraint Howells


Legal actions for damage caused by defective products have a long pedigree
and certainly emerged as a recognized area for litigation towards the end of
the 19th century when mass manufactured products became available.
Nevertheless, few areas of private law have been at the centre of more heated
legal policy debates during the last half-century than product liability. This
controversy has resulted from a retreat in the product liability context from
the privity limitations of contract law (Prosser, 1960; 1966) and a reluctance
to accept fault as a satisfactory basis for liability. Strict product liability is now
the order of the day in most developed countries (Hodges, 1993; Howells,
1993; Kelly and Attree, 1996; Kellam, 1999). The amount written about
product liability is a testament to lawyers' interest in law reform, but, outside
the US, this is not justified in terms of the practical importance of product
liability as a dimension of legal practice (in the UK, e.g., major works include
Clark, 1989; Howells, 2000; Miller and Goldberg, 2004; Stapleton, 1994).
This contribution will chart the development of strict liability in the US,
its adoption by the EC and the export of the EC model around the globe.
We will note that for all the analysis it is still unclear what policy rationale
underpins the introduction of strict product liability. This makes it prob-
lematic to determine how the principles should be applied. We will look at
five live areas of debate: (i) ...