A Justification of Compensation to the Descendants of Wronged Parties: An Intended Analogy
Public Affairs Quartly, Vol. 12, No. 4, p. 363, 1998
6 Pages Posted: 21 May 2009
Date Written: 1998
Abstract
Claims to compensation for injustices committed against one’s ancestors are not favored, either by law or morality, for defensible reasons. First, claims to compensation generally should relate to a specifiable injury suffered by the claimant. Second, when claims to compensation are derived from specifiable injuries suffered by someone other than the claimant, there are issues of intervening causation. This complicates a determination of how and to what extent the injury sustained by the wronged party affected the injury of the party claiming compensation. Third, as a matter of public policy, the passage of time should be appropriate grounds to cut off theories of liability except in extraordinary circumstances. In the context of a hypothetical situation, this paper discusses when society should assume a role in compensating the present day claimants for a past wrong suffered by an ancestor despite the concerns that disfavor delayed compensation.
Keywords: compensation, liability, remedies
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