This collection of essays investigates the way in which modern private law apportions responsibility between multiple parties who are (or may be) responsible for the same legal event. It examines both doctrines and principles that share responsibility between plaintiffs and defendants, on the one hand, and between multiple defendants, on the other. The doctrines examined include those 'originating' doctrines which operate to create shared liabilities in the first place (such as vicarious and accessorial liability); and, more centrally, those doctrines that operate to distribute the liabilities and responsibilities so created. These include the doctrine of contributory (comparative) negligence, joint and several (solidary) liability, contribution, reimbursement, and 'proportionate' liability, as well as defences and principles of equitable 'allowance' that permit both losses and gains to be shared between parties to civil proceedings. The work also considers the principles which apportion liability between multiple defendants and insurers in cases in which the cause, or timing, of a particular loss is hard to determine.The contributions to this volume offer important perspectives on the law in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as a number of civilian jurisdictions. They explicate the main rules and trends and offer critical insights on the growth and distribution of shared responsibilities from a number of different perspectives - historical, comparative, empirical, doctrinal and philosophical.

PART IFRAMEWORKS, ETHICS AND POLITICS1. Apportionment in Private Law: Nothing, All, or Something in Between? Kit Barker2. Allocating Liability Among Multiple Responsible Causes: Principles, Rhetoric and Power Richard W Wright3. Full, No, or Partial Liability? That is the Question - Some Answers from a Civilian Perspective Helmut Koziol PART IIORIGINATING DOCTRINES4. Vicarious Liability: A Pailful of Slops and Other Hazards Warren Swain5. Accessories, Joint or Independent Liability and Apportionment Joachim Dietrich PART IIIPLAINTIFF-DEFENDANT APPORTIONMENT6. Contributory Negligence and Apportionment in Canadian Tort Law Lewis Klar7. Contributory Negligence and Professional Negligence: An Empirical Perspective James Goudkamp and Donal Nolan8. Allocating the Costs of Making Restitution: Change of Position Ross Grantham9. Certainty in Calculating Monetary Remedies for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Simone Degeling PART IVAPPORTIONMENT BETWEEN DEFENDANTS10. Contribution Among Wrongdoers: Reducing the Risk of Contribution Recovery Shortfall and Other Issues David Cheifetz11. Reforming a Reform: Why Has It Been So Hard to Reform Proportionate Liability Reforms? Barbara McDonald12. Causation and Proportional Recovery Rob Merkin and Jenny Steele13. Justice Between Defendants: A New Zealand Note on (non) Law Reform Geoff McLay