From Fault-Based to Strict Liability: A Case Study of an Overpraised Reform

31 Pages Posted: 4 Jan 2018 Last revised: 22 Jul 2019

See all articles by Ronen Perry

Ronen Perry

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law

Date Written: December 29, 2017

Abstract

On September 25, 1976, the Israeli Road Accident Victims’ Compensation Act came into force. Prior to its enactment, road accident injuries were subject to the common law of torts, as codified in the Civil Wrongs Ordinance. The statutory reform was intended to achieve a social goal, namely securing prompt and satisfactory compensation to all road accident victims, including many who would not have been entitled to compensation otherwise. To this end, the legislature abolished fault, both as a basis for and as a defense against liability, expanded mandatory insurance, and established the Road Accident Victims’ Compensation Fund as a residual compensation mechanism. Two secondary goals of this socially motivated reform were extensive loss-spreading and reduction in court congestion and administrative costs. The article provides a critical evaluation of the common perception of this legislation. It challenges the Act’s claims to fame, demonstrating that the changes it was intended to bring about did not occur, occurred to a much lesser extent than commonly believed, or could have occurred anyway. This casts doubts about the validity of the rhetoric surrounding the legislative project, and provides valuable lessons for other jurisdictions considering similar reforms.

Keywords: tort law, road accidents, traffic accidents, social insurance, fault-based liability, strict liability, litigation, damages, interim payments, loss spreading

JEL Classification: K00, K13, K41

Suggested Citation

Perry, Ronen, From Fault-Based to Strict Liability: A Case Study of an Overpraised Reform (December 29, 2017). Wake Forest Law Review, Vol. 53, pp. 383-419, 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3094591

Ronen Perry (Contact Author)

University of Haifa - Faculty of Law ( email )

Mount Carmel
Haifa, 3498838
Israel

HOME PAGE: http://law.haifa.ac.il/index.php/en/faculty-rperry

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