In almost every field of law,from tort and contract to environmental law and criminal justice, issues about 'risk' are increasingly of interest to lawyers. At the same time, there has been little general enquiry into the nature of the contact between law and risks. This book argues that ideas about risk have not traditionally been absent from law, as is sometimes supposed. Lawyers and legal theorists have used and conceptualised risk in particular ways, and ideas of risk have had significant influence in key elements of legal theory including questions of justice and responsibility. The book explores the conceptual place of risk across a number of fields of law; and identifies some significant challenges for law and legal theory arising from broader debates about risk. It therefore sheds light on areas that are under-explored despite current interest among lawyers, and aims to provide an accessible guide to emerging controversies and challenges for law in this area while explaining their significance.

Part I Introduction
Chapter 1 Introduction to Risks and Legal Theory
Chapter 2 Four Perspectives on Risk

Part II Risks in Legal Theory – Some Core Instances
Chapter 3 Risks, Accidents and Insurance
Chapter 4 Risks, Outcomes, and Personal Responsibility
Chapter 5 Distributive Justice, Insurance and the Individual


Part III – Environment, Precaution, and Sources of Change
Chapter 6 Environmental Regulation, Risk, and Precaution

Part IV – Conclusion
Chapter 7 Reflections

“This timely and impressive volume is the first to treat themes in modern 'liberal' legal theory with systematic reference to the recent sociological literature on risk...” –  Ken Oliphant, European Tort Law 2004

“...an excellent purchase for those unfamiliar with contemporary legal perspectives on risk...clearly achieves its aim in demonstrating that legal theory has long concerned itself with risk in various forms...” –  Antonia Layard, Lecturer in Law, Cardiff University, The Yearbook of European Law, Vol. 6