id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentence	flesch	summary	cache	txt
blj-2302	Sugarman, Harrison	The Development of Privity of Contract as the Common Law Standard for Product Liability: An Analysis of Winterbottom v. Wright, Thomas v. Winchester, and Industrialization	2024	16	.pdf	application/pdf	4184	161	42	The NYSC overturned its previous ruling on Thomas v. Winchester with its 1916 decision on MacPherson v. Buick Motor Company, and legal scholars view this as the beginning of modern product liability law; the case established the standard of reasonability, but a series of product liability cases further reestablished the ancient standard of strict liability.512 Justice Benjamin Cardozo of the NY Court of Appeals astutely realized that the economy had become so industrialized and integrated by the early 20th century that consumers almost exclusively purchased products from manufacturers they did not know personally.513 The distribution of burden that privity of contract placed on consumers by that point was so unacceptable that even conservative formalists, like Carodozo, knew that the faceless economy theory outlived its utility.514 In a broader context, the analysis of the shift in product liability standards assesses the distribution of risk 514 Id. 513 In replacement of formalism, legal instrumentalism, which advanced that the law could be directed toward a collective social good, began to dominate American courts, including the NY Court of Appeals.473 According to accredited sources, any discussion about American product liability, privity of contract, and Thomas v. Winchester would be fundamentally incomplete without discussing Winterbottom v. Wright at length.474 Although the case was adjudicated under English law, applying the principles of Winterbottom v. Wright to American jurisprudence is essential because the NY Court of Appeals adopted the Court of Exchequer’s approach, exemplifying the concurrent socioeconomic and legal challenges Great Britain and the US faced as a consequence of industrialization and economic expansion.	cache/blj-2302.pdf	txt/blj-2302.txt