The Protection of Property Rights Through Tort Law

This book analyses the problems caused by relying on tort law mechanisms to protect tangible property interests in the common law and suggests a new way of thinking to rectify these issues. As English common law relies primarily on tort law for the protection of tangible property interests, property rights are protected by a group of claims that as a whole are informed by a set of concerns that have little to do with the vindication of property rights. The book demonstrates how tort law tends to focus on loss within the case law and argues that this fundamental mismatch wholly undermines the category of property rights, since the protection of property through tort is simultaneously too broad and too narrow. Discussing trespass to goods, trespass to land, private nuisance, conversion, and negligent property damage, the book advances a novel way of re-thinking about the property-protecting torts, far better suited to their unique role within the law. Using cases throughout, the book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners within the fields of property law, tort law, and private law in general.