Tocqueville's Models of Law, Religion, and Democracy in America: Virtue, Interest, and the Duty to Rescue
Two thousand years ago a Jewish lawyer demanded a definition of the term "neighbor." … Whether the tale of the Samaritan answered his perplexities we cannot say. But he would surely have been astonished had he been informed that there were two answers to his question, one if he was asking...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
1984
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| In: |
Journal of law and religion
Year: 1984, Volume: 2, Issue: 1, Pages: 69-84 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Two thousand years ago a Jewish lawyer demanded a definition of the term "neighbor." … Whether the tale of the Samaritan answered his perplexities we cannot say. But he would surely have been astonished had he been informed that there were two answers to his question, one if he was asking as a lawyer, another if he was asking as a layman. To him, neighbor was neighbor and duty, duty. Perhaps this ancient lawyer's tale has a moral for law and lawyers today.If you are not under a duty to "fease," then nonfeasance can never be held actionable. But if you do engage in feasance toward somebody, then under most circumstances you must "fease" carefully. Moral: Don't ever "fease" unless you have to!This essay explores the relationships among law, morality, and democracy in the American system as expressed in the development of tort rules regarding the duty to rescue someone in peril. The formative period of this legal development occurred during the period of industrialization and urbanization in America, in particular during the period between the Civil War and World War I. Religious developments in this era were principally expressed in the emergence of what came to be known as the "Social Gospel." |
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| ISSN: | 2163-3088 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of law and religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1051033 |