Legal Theory and Concepts
Intermediate
Liability
The correlative position of another person's power: being legally subject to a change in one's legal relations through that person's act.
Why It Matters
In Hohfeld's usage, liability is broader than monetary responsibility for wrongdoing. Shareholders, directors, contracting parties, regulated firms, and defendants may all be liable in the sense that another actor can alter their legal position.
Selected Literature
A short list of directly relevant archive entries.
1913
Introductory
Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
Yale Law Journal
1917
Introductory
Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning
Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld
Yale Law Journal
Related Cases
1910
Foundations of Law and Economics
Vincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co.
109 Minn. 456, 124 N.W. 221 (1910)
Private necessity, compensation, and liability for intentional emergency use of another's property.
1928
Foundations of Law and Economics
Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.
248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928)
Duty, foreseeability, and the legal boundary placed on liability for an extended chain of accidental harm.
1944
Foundations of Law and Economics
Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co.
24 Cal. 2d 453, 150 P.2d 436 (1944)
Proof of negligence and the allocation of product-accident risk between manufacturers and consumers.
1970
Foundations of Law and Economics
Boomer v. Atlantic Cement Co.
26 N.Y.2d 219, 257 N.E.2d 870 (1970)
Permanent damages, injunctions, and the choice between property-rule and liability-rule protection.