Introduction

• Author: Jamie Cassels
• Profession: Professor of Law University of Victoria
• Pages: 1-12

CHAPTER

1

INTRODUCTION

A

SCOPE

AND

SIGNIFICANCE

OF

THE

SUBJECT

The

law of

remedies provides perhaps

the

richest

entry

point into

the

study

of the

nature

of

judge-made law.

The law of

judicial remedies,

which includes

the law of

damages, ranges over

the

entire

field

of

sub-

stantive private law, including

the law of

contract, tort,

and

property.

An

appreciation

of the

principles governing

the

choice

of

remedies

and

the

methods

of

damages quantification provides critical

insights

into

specific

legal rules

and

arrangements,

as

well

as

into

the

nature

of the

common

law

process generally. From

a

pragmatic point

of

view,

the

issue

of

remedies

is of

utmost importance

in

civil litigation since

a

right

has

practical value only

to the

extent that

it is

vindicated

by an

ade-

quate

remedy. From

a

theoretical point

of

view,

the law of

remedies

is

also

of

primary significance because

the

remedies

that courts

choose

to

make available

to

vindicate

a

right reveal much about

the

nature, pur-

pose,

and

scope

of

that right.

To the

extent that

the key to

understand-

ing law

lies

in an

examination

of

what legal

officials

do,

rather than

what they merely say, close scrutiny

of the

actual remedial outcomes

of

cases teaches much about law.

Despite their obvious importance, until recently, remedies have

been treated more

as an

afterthought than

as an

independent area

of

study. Once

the

question

of

liability

was

established,

it was

assumed

the

appropriate remedy automatically presented itself

as a

reflexive

1