This is all the information that would be required for an exam, it is an in depth summarised document for tort law with the defences and remedies for any tort case.
Unit 2 Section B:
Tort Law
Summary Sheets – covers only the bare minimum, should
be used in conjunction with own notes, case notes,
textbooks and other information provided.
,
, Rules and theory: Outline of the rules and theory of the law of tort
• Aim of tort law and tortious actions:
• Aim of tort is not to punish wrongdoing, it is to protect • Defences:
interests by: • Ways for the defendant to refute a claim.
• Fewer defences in civil law than in criminal law
• Stopping the harmful conduct and/or
• Defences generally divert blameworthiness from the defendant
• Providing damages by way of compensation
back to the claimant, suggesting they were, to some degree
• To those who suffer loss as a consequence of the actions or responsible for their own damage.
inactions (omissions) of others. • Remedies:
• Defining the claimant and the defendant: • Damages – money calculated to return the claimant to their
• Claimant is the legal person bringing the claim – person feels original position before the tort had taken place
wronged and is claiming damages (or seeking an injunction) • Injunction – court order to stop – most common in torts such as
• Defendant is the legal person who is alleged wrongdoer – trespass and nuisance.
person is attempting to defend themselves from the claim • In civil cases the general rule is that the loser pays the winner’s
against them legal costs in addition to their own costs, so it is a risky business.
• Tortious liability: the burden and standard of proof: • Protected interests:
• Burden is on the claimant. • Tort aims to protect interests from a harm.
• Not all interests are protected to the same degree, because of
• Standard of proof is ‘on the balance of probabilities’
how case law has developed in the courts.
• Claimant merely has to establish that the defendant was at • Protected interests include:
fault for the incident and responsible for the damage.
• Harm (including death) – personal injury claims
• Civil courts of first instance: County Court and High Court • Harm to property
• Fault or no fault: • Enjoyment of property
• Fault was first introduced into negligence law in Cambridge • Harm to the due process of law
Water v Eastern Counties Leather (1994). Before this, fault • Compensation culture:
was not always necessary for damages to be paid. • Idea of compensation culture fuelled by the American case of
• Fault means that there is some wrong doing by the Liebeck v McDonalds – ‘hot coffee case’
defendant, and is a requirement in torts such as negligence • Laws have been introduced to address the growing number of
and occupier’s liability. frivolous claims, particularly fraudulent whiplash claims.
• Fault is not needed in torts such as: • Is it fair to assume every claimant is just trying to make money?
• Nuisance • Are the press and social media actually to blame for the skewed
• Rylands v Fletcher reporting and ‘fake news’?
• Vicarious Liability
• In these, the claimant does not need to show how and why the
incident happened – just need to show that it did happen and
then establish a causal link to the damage suffered
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