Rethinking the Economic Torts

We propose a revised conceptual basis for the economic torts which is true to their historical role of regulating the competitive process. Claims that the economic torts are part of a wider principle of prima facie liability for intentional harm or that they are based on a theory of secondary or accessorial liability should, we argue, be rejected. Instead, we focus on a narrower and, we claim, more defensible conception of these torts in terms of the economic interests which they protect, the kinds of interferences which trigger liability, and the nature of the justifications which should be accepted as defences.