Hanoch Dagan (University of California, Berkeley – School of Law) and Avihay Dorfman (University of Texas at Austin School of Law; Tel Aviv University – Buchmann Faculty of Law) have posted The Work and Values of Relational Justice on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In Relational Justice we lay out a new approach to understanding some of society’s most important building blocks, arguing that private law should, and to a significant degree already does, abide by the fundamental commitment to reciprocal respect for self-determination and substantive equality. The generous and rigorous book reviews of Aditi Bagchi, Marija Bartl, Brian Bix, Andrew Gold, Felipe Jiménez, and Joanna Langille push us to clarify and refine two critical points.
First, the ambition of private law is primarily constructive and prospective. This means that relational justice is aimed at offering a broad loadstar that should guide legal systems across time and place; and it provides tools for internal legal critique, thus avoiding the risk of quietism which often plagues approaches that take law seriously (as we do).
Second, relational justice is a liberal theory of private law, which is required by the commitments to freedom and equality, properly conceived. This thesis implies that relational justice is sharply contrasted with corrective justice (in all its variations); that its instantiation in private law is intrinsically valuable; that it incorporates built-in features which ensure that private law does not overreach any liberal boundary; and that it points to categories where elevated interpersonal responsibility is called for.
Highly Recommended!
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