Freedom from Past Injustices: A Critical Evaluation of Claims for Inter-generational Reparations

Should contemporary citizens provide material redress to right past wrongs? There is a widespread belief that people today should take responsibility for rectifying the wrongs of their ancestors. Nahshon Perez challenges this view, questioning attempts to aggregate dead wrongdoers with living people. He distinguishes sharply between those who are indeed unjustly enriched by past wrongs, and those who are not. Perez concludes that individuals have the right to a clean slate, and that almost all of the pro-intergenerational redress arguments are unconvincing. This title is unique in claiming past wrongs should not be rectified. It analyses pro-intergenerational material redress arguments. Case studies include court cases from Australia, Northern Cyprus, the United States and Austria.

Reviews of Freedom from Past Injustices: A Critical Evaluation of Claims for Inter-generational Reparations

"Freedom from Past Injustices" is a major contribution to the literature concerning the rectification of historical wrongs, and contains important arguments against rectifying past wrongs. It examines a highly important question: whether the descendants of victims of past wrongs should be compensated. It examines carefully and critically most of the arguments in the field and it defends successfully an unpopular position.–Alon Harel, Mizock Chair in Administrative and Criminal Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem