Introduction

• Author: Jamie Cassels
• Pages: 1-13

1

CHA PTER 1

INTRODUCTION

A. SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE

SUBJEC T

The law of remedies provides perhaps the r ichest entry point into the

study of the nature of judge-made law. The law of judicial remedies —

which includes the law of damages — r anges over the entire f‌ield of

substantive private law, including the law of contract, tort, and prop-

erty. An appreciation of the principles governing the choice of remedies

and the methods of damages quantif‌ication provides critic al insights

into specif‌ic legal rules a nd 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 adequate remedy. From a theoretical point of view, the law of rem-

edies is also of primary signi f‌icance because the remedies t hat courts

choose to make available to vi ndicate a right reveal much about the

nature, purpose, and scope of that right. To the extent that the key

to understanding law lies in an examination of what legal off‌icials do,

rather than what they merely s ay, close scrutiny of the actual remedial

outcomes of cases teaches much about law.

Despite their obvious import ance, until recently, remedies have

been treated more as an after thought than as an independent area of

study. Once the question of liability was establi shed, it was assumed