Equal Justice

The core of this book is a novel theory of distributive justice premised on the fundamental moral equality of persons. In the light of this theory, Eric Rakowski considers three types of problem which urgently require solutions - the distribution of resources, property rights, and the saving of life - and provides challenging and unconventional answers. Further, he criticizes the economic analysis of law as a normative theory, and develops an alternative account of tort and property law. Among the topics discussed are the principles by which earnings, wealth, and gifts should be taxed; whether the compulsory removal of organs for transplantation can be justified; how doctors and public officials should make life-or-death decisions when all those endangered cannot be helped in equal measure; and the morality of killing human beings and non-human animals.

Introduction; Part I. Equality of Fortune: The presumption in favor of equal shares; Voluntary choices and emergent inequalities; Ineluctable risks: illness and injury; Occupational preferences, effort, and desert; Unequal endowments; Gifts, bequests, and intergenerational obligations; Justice and the transfer of body parts; Part II. Corrective Justice: The problem of liability rules: the failings of wealth maximization as a normative ideal; Outline of a theory of corrective justice; Illustrations; Part III. Saving and Taking Life: Do numbers count when saving lives?; The relevance of personal characteristics to choices between lives; Killing people or animals to benefit others; Envoi; Bibliography; Index