uld offer insight into the distribution of responsibility for reparation of the harm of pornography across all members and institutions in society. Instead I shall attempt to offer insight into the smaller problem of distribution of responsibility among pornographers. Given the huge volume of pornography, in many cases it may be impossible to pinpoint the particular publishers, materials etc. which led to the quasi- social harm against a plaintiff. I suggest that a solution to the problem of perpetrator identity may be suggested by analysis of the California Supreme Court's treatment of the problem in a product liability case. The excerpt from Linden above indicates that traditionally the perpetrator of a tort must be clearly, individually identified as the cause of the harm suffered by the plaintiff. This traditional concept of causation in tort law is not sacrosanct. In Sindell, an action launched by a victim of a harmful drug succeeded against a multitude of pharmaceutical companies even though no one company could be causally linked to the harm suffered by the particular victim. The plaintiff's mother had consumed the drug DES during her pregnancy, and the plaintiff suffered birth defects as a result. Evidence of the particular supplier of this drug to her mother had long since vanished, but it was certain that some manufacturer out of a number producing it at the time of the pregnancy had promoted the drug without warning of the potential side effects. The California Supreme Court held that, in the absence of direct causal links to any particular supplier of the drug DES, the plaintiff could recover damages in proportion to the likelihood that any manufacturer was the one which provided the drug to her mother during pregnancy. This case has many obvious differences from a purported action for harm from trafficking in pornography. It was certain that the plaintiff had suffered a tangible physical harm from t...
