In this document, you will find the complete notes on the "Tort Law" chapter from the "Introduction to Law" book some questions at the end to test your knowledge and make sure you understood everything!
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Tort Law
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TORT LAW
1.What is Tort Law?
From the legal point of view, harm = damage
1.1. Liability Law
Liability law deals with the conditions under which someone who has
suffered damage can claim compensation for this damage from someone
else:
The victim of a bar fight whose face had to be treated by a doctor
The school girl who was the victim of slander (calomnie) on the
Internet
The client of a bank who suffered a loss on his stock portfolio,
because the bank did not sufficiently warn him for the risks of a
certain kind of investment
The student who had to re-sit his exam after other students had
illegally acquired copies before the exam was taken
The car owner whose car was damaged in an accident
The owner of a school building that was set on fire by a 6-year-old
pupil
The victim of an exploding bottle of soft drink that stood too long in
the sun
Contractual Liability and Tort Liability:
- Liability for someone else’s damage often occurs in a contractual
setting
law deals with this kind of liability under the heading of
contractual liability
- Rules for contractual liability similar to the rules for liability outside
contract (extra contractual or tort liability)
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, Justice:
Field of liability law governed by the demands of 2 different kinds of
justice:
o Corrective justice
o Distributive justice
Fault Liability:
- Main rule in liability law: damage must be borne by (pris en charge par)
the person who suffered it in the first place BUT exception when the
damage can be attributed to an act of somebody else
the other person has caused the damage, and if he did this
intentionally or negligently, he must for that reason
compensate it = fault liability
Strict Liability:
- Situations where the damage is not the result of an act at all or is
the result of a circumstance where the agent did not act
intentionally or negligently
law imposes liability on someone other than the direct victim
(parents liable for the damage for their young children) = strict
liability
- Strict liability exists when the law assumes there is liability, but does
not base it on a fault of the person who must pay damages
Mechanisms for the Distribution of Damage:
- In the cases of fault and strict liability, the damage is shifted from
the person who suffered it to somebody else
- Reasons why not to shift the damage to one or more specific
persons but rather to distribute it over a larger part of society:
o The damage is too big to be borne by individual persons
(nuclear disaster)
o The existence of a certain kind of damage is the responsibility
of a larger set of persons
it is in the interest of victims that all members of this set
contribute to the compensation of that damage (car drivers
collectively create the risk of car accidents, and therefore it
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