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57 S.M.U. L. Rev. 163 (2004)
Pain and Suffering, Noneconomic Damages, and the Goals of Tort Law

handle is hein.journals/smulr57 and id is 173 raw text is: PAIN AND SUFFERING, NONECONOMIC
DAMAGES, AND THE GOALS OF
TORT LAW
Joseph H. King, Jr.*
We have come to accept almost without question the monetary evalua-
tion of the immeasurable perturbations of the spirit. But why should
the law measure in monetary terms a loss which has no monetary
dimension?1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.  INTRODUCTION        ........................................   164
II. EVOLUTION OF PAIN AND SUFFERING
D A M A G ES  ...............................................   167
III. SUBVERSION OF THE GOALS ........................                170
A .  FIRST  PRINCIPLES  .....................................   170
B. DISCONTINUITY OF PAIN AND MONEY .................            171
C.  THE  G OALS  ...........................................    180
1. Preservation of the Peace and Retribution ..........     180
2.  Loss  Spreading  ....................................   182
3.  Loss  A llocation  ...................................  185
4. Deterrence and Incentives for Accident Avoidance .       187
5.  Corrective  Justice  ..................................  193
6. Administrative Efficiency ..........................     196
7.  Fairness  ...........................................   197
8.  A utonom  y  .........................................  199
9. Permit Freedom of Enterprise ......................      200
IV. GLIMPSE AT TORTS WITHOUT DAMAGES FOR
PAIN AND SUFFERING           ................................   201
A. ELIMINATE DAMAGES FOR NONECONOMIC
CONSEQUENCES OF PAIN AND SUFFERING .............            201
B. ENHANCED ECONOMIC DAMAGES FOR ASSUAGING
PAIN AND LIMITATIONS ...............................        205
* UTK and Walter W. Bussart Distinguished Professor of Law. I had an opportu-
nity to share my ideas for this article with participants at a University of Tennessee College
of Law Faculty Forum and at a Symposium on Damages sponsored by the Advocacy
Center at the Tennessee College of Law.
1. Louis L. Jaffe, Damages for Personal Injury: The Impact of Insurance, 18 LAW &
CONTEMP. PROBS. 219, 222 (1953).

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