Abstract
An analysis of O'Brien v. Cunard Steamship Co. readily demonstrates how economic concepts can help enlighten legal thought, enable judges and lawmakers to select optimal legal rules, and assist law students and others to understand the implications of alternative legal decisions. Because O'Brien has several aspects that can be explained quite well through the economic approach, the case also could be used to teach a number of important economic insights that often provide useful aids to legal analysis. O'Brien also contains issues for which economic analysis is less important. Because a complete study of O'Brien would involve both economic and non-economic issues, a focus upon this case would illustrate how economic analysis often has an important role in legal decision making, but that this role may be limited. This Article's analysis will show how Law & Economics should be considered a supplement to, but not a replacement for, other forms of legal analysis.
Recommended Citation
Robert H. Lande,
Law & Economics Perspective on a Traditional Torts Case: Insights for Classroom and Courtroom, A,
57 Mo. L. Rev.
(1992)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol57/iss2/6