Congress passed the Federal Tort Claims Act to replace private bills with court access

Evidence

The Federal Tort Claims Act was passed by the Seventy-ninth Congress in 1946 as Title IV of the Legislative Reorganization Act, 60 Stat. 842, after nearly thirty yearscf congressional consideration. It was the offspring of a feeling that the Government should assume the obligation to pay damages for the misfeasance of employees in carrying out its work. And the private bill device was notoriously clumsy. Some simplified recovery procedure for the mass of claims was imperative. This Act was Congress’ solution, affording instead easy and simple access to the federal courts for torts within its scope. — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 2051

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the ‘private bill device’ critique and licensing/prior-approval themes in Volumes 1-2; treat as institutional-roles reference for LGST course. — connects to: The discretionary-function exception replaced activity-specific carve-outs in 1942 tort bills — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2056; Congress has long used insurance and indemnity devices across many federal programs — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1917; Congress steadily delegates private claims adjudication to courts and agencies — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 2294

Broader Connections

• Congress steadily delegates private claims adjudication to courts and agencies #expands (0.82) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 2294