In 1981, in a case made famous by the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Savannah, Georgia antiques dealer and preservationist Jim Williams shot and killed his gay lover, a young bisexual street hustler named Danny Hansford. Hansford’s mother, who had obtained a restraining order against her son previously to keep him away from her, suddenly decided that the value of her son’s life was $10 million, suing Williams for that amount.

      What is the life of someone like Danny Hansford really worth? Of course, as we discuss in our Valuism essay, values can only be determined in context. There