Acceso usuarios
, Juan Antonio Ruiz García
The economic loss notion and its associated non-recovery rule have puzzled lawyers andcourts in Common Law systems for a long time. Civil Law systems have also dealt withsimilar cases as those considered under the concept of economic loss, although usingdifferent doctrinal instruments. The paper analyses the consistency of the economic lossconcept, and concludes that it has no normative value and very little, if any, descriptiveand orientative value.The major theories, both economically oriented and non-economical, in search for a unifiedrationale of the notion of economic loss, are reviewed and criticized. Finally, a pluralisticLaw and Economics approach is presented and argued, on the basis of the subrogationprinciple, the search for social losses in foregone sales cases, the surrogate character ofeconomic loss in failed contractual liability situations, and the liability of gatekeepers.
