Ernest Weinrib


Ernest J. Weinrib is a legal academic specializing in Jurisprudence and legal philosophy, specializing in private law. He teaches at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Theories

In Weinrib's theories he sees the world of private law as being composed of "bilateral relationships between individuals whereby one person's right is always a function of another person's duty."
Because of this he argues that private law cannot explain factors like punitive damages and other remedies used for behavior modification. Private law he argues is an ends to itself and not a means to some other particularly political, economic or social change. The only purpose, he says, for "private law, is to be private law".
Weinrib sees that private law "regards the parties to a lawsuit as active and passive poles of the same injustice. The injustice in a disruption of the parties’ equality, whereby each party has what is rightfully his or hers."

Writing