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Patterns of Adoption of Tort Law Innovations: An Application of Diffusion Theory to Judicial Doctrines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Bradley C. Canon  and
Lawrence Baum
Bradley C. Canon
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
Lawrence Baum
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
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Abstract

Social scientists have given increasing attention to the diffusion of policy innovations among the American states, focusing on the legislative and administrative sectors. This study is an effort to expand our understanding of policy diffusion by analyzing the diffusion of 23 innovative tort doctrines among state court systems between 1876 and 1975. This analysis examines the innovativeness of state judicial systems, the correlates of innovativeness, and the pattern of diffusion. The findings suggest that the diffusion of judicial doctrines is a very different process from the diffusion of legislation. A major reason for the difference appears to be the courts' dependence on litigants to provide opportunities for innovation.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 75 , Issue 4 , December 1981 , pp. 975 - 987
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1981

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