Category Archives: Private Law

Pre-judgment Interest on Liquidated and Unliquidated Sums

June 10, 2024Contract Law, Private Lawlawresearch

A creditor bringing an action will want interest too. Interest compensates for late payment. For the last 200 years, relief came from statutes. The common law did not recognize a right to pre-judgment interest. That position was relaxed in Sempra Metals v IRC [2008] 1 AC 561. Interest on debts and other claims for breach of contract were legitimised. Plaintiffs can now present claims for compound interest at common law, whereas statutory interest is always simple. Where the interval between cause of action and judgment is long and the sum is large, this is a superior option. In a recent Privy Council decision (Sagicor Bank Jamaica v YP Seaton[2022] UKPC 48), interest calculated on a compound basis was roughly 52 times greater than simple, and roughly 368 times the principal sum.

Corporate Liability and Systems Theory

May 13, 2024Legal Theory, Private Lawlawresearch

I have been writing a series of papers that examines what systems theory is and whether it can be used to think through problems of corporate liability. This blog post provides an overview of two of the three published papers (both published in the second half of 2023).

Law by Algorithm

October 23, 2023Commercial Law, Law & Technology, Private Lawlawresearch

My review article in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies offers a critical analysis of Horst Eidenmüller and Gerhard Wagner’s Law by Algorithm by focusing on four major sets of issues that are covered in this important work: (i) separate legal personality for artificial intelligence (AI) systems; (ii) the exploitation and protection of consumers; (iii) liability; and (iv) online dispute resolution.

The Enigma of Interpersonal Justice in Private Law Theory

October 16, 2023Legal Theory, Private Lawcontracts, Interpersonal justice, tortslawresearch

Private lawyers often talk about interpersonal justice in a way that presumes some level of consensus ad idem over the concept. This, however, can be doubted.

Rethinking Relational Architecture: Interpersonal Justice Beyond Private Law

September 25, 2023Legal Theory, Private Lawlawresearch

Private law is often said to be distinctive in a certain sense: it is about ‘interpersonal justice’. But consider the following: Antony Duff says criminal law is to be understood in a certain relational way. Kristen Rundle says that the Fullerian ideal of the internal morality of law concerns certain relations between the lawgiver and law subject. Avihay Dorfman argues that there are relational aspects of many public law duties. If there is any meaningful use of the relational architecture in these domains, it must extend beyond the vision offered by what is traditionally known as the ‘bipolarity’ thesis in private law.

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