Insuring Domestic Tranquility Through Quieter Products: A Proposed Product-Nuisance Tort

Authors

Jason A. Lief, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Abstract

Is there a place upon this globe where one may escape the drone of our industrial beehive and bask in calm tranquility? Thoreau observed that the "mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Paradoxically, the source of that quiet desperation often is uncontrollable environmental noise. Even within the ,home, the one supposed sanctuary from the world's evils, unwanted noise invades lives and disrupts serenity. Although noise is not a new problem for mankind, its magnitude has changed over time. Today's "speaking trumpets" do indeed "have a power unknown to a simpler age." Amplified sound can be a weapon, as well as a means of communication. Noise is used to wage "psychological warfare." It is even reported that the "French have invented an infrasonic generator that can turn people's flesh to the consistency of toothpaste and kill at a distance of five miles."

Keywords

Administrative Law, Public Policy, Public Administration, Jurisdiction, Pollution, Environmental Law

Disciplines

Administrative Law | Environmental Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Jason A. Lief, Insuring Domestic Tranquility Through Quieter Products: A Proposed Product-Nuisance Tort, 16 Cardozo L. Rev. 595 (1994).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol16/iss2/9