Thursday, October 22, 2009
Portee v Jaffee- (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1980)
Tusken Raiders abduct Anakin Skywalker's mother on Tatooine while Anakin is off learning to be a Jedi. She is tortured and the Sand People are basically all kinds of negligent with her. By the time Anakin arrives to rescue her, it's too late and she dies in his arms. This inflicts great emotional damage on Anakin, and as a result he heads further down the path that will lead him to the dark side. If Anakin hadn't murdered the whole tribe, he would have had a claim against the Tuskens for his emotional damages, even though they didn't directly harm him, because 1) he personally witnessed his mother's death, 2) he was in close proximity to her when she died (he would not have had a claim if he watched her death by hologram), 3) he and his mother were related, and 4) her death was a serious injury.
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He probably would also not have had a claim if he only felt a great disturbance in The Force. We are uncomfortable with such lines being drawn in the law, but they are necessary, such as the requirement that you must be 16 to drive a landspeeder. Some responsible persons will not be able to drive until they are 16, and some irresponsible persons will be able to drive after they are 16. We don't always have the resources to determine which are which.
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