‘Casum sentit dominus’ – the owner suffers the misfortune – is a venerable maxim of law. According to the orthodox view, a person who causes harm by misfortune rather than fault or other forms of responsibility owes no compensation. At a closer look this is not so easy to justify as it may seem at first glance. Does it not introduce a certain preference for the one who causes harm over the innocent victim? Professor Koziol’s recent work unites some significant lines of attack on the principle and will serve as the starting point of a debate. From classic cases of accidental misfortune to new developments where responsibility for harm is often dispersed and obscure, the project encourages a debate about the allocation of loss in cases of misfortune.
