Eugene Volokh of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University recently examined the newly published Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons in The Volokh Conspiracy, focusing on its treatment of self-defense and the use of deadly force.
Volokh discusses changes from the earlier Restatements, including the decision in § 24 to eliminate a provision stating that an individual could lose the privilege of self-defense when the need to use deadly force could safely be avoided by relinquishing the exercise of another right or privilege. He also considers the Restatement’s treatment of the limited duty to retreat before using deadly force.
In discussing the change, Volokh notes his own earlier exchange with those working on the Restatement concerning the issue.
Read Volokh’s full piece, “Should Deadly Self-Defense Be Tortious if Need for It Could Have Been Avoided ‘by Relinquishing the Exercise of [a] Right’?”