Nonmaterial Misrepresentation: Damages, Rescission, and the Possibility of Efficient Fraud

Buried in the details of legal doctrine governing misrepresentation is a remedial anomaly that raises some interesting questions about how law should deal with moral wrongs such as fraud. We tend to think of deliberate deception--fraud--as a grave moral wrong. At least, we think of deception as gravely wrong when the deceiver\u27s objective is not to avert harm or spare feelings, but to obtain someone\u27s money or goods. Deception denies the autonomy of the person deceived and undermines the foundation of trust in human interaction. The law, however, does not penalize every instance of fraud. Moreover, the standards governing when fraud is actionable vary according to the remedy sought