January 1977 Archives

"The law of products liability has undergone numerous changes -- some major, some minor -- that have, taken together, profoundly increased the probability that a successful suit for damages will be brought against the maker or seller of a product." The courts' motives for the expansion of liability have included cost-internalization, risk-spreading, and the provisions of incentives to design safer products -- but early signs of distress from fields as diverse as vaccines and machine tools suggest that the new law may carry with it many surprising costs and unintended consequences.