Tort Law: Rule of Tort Flashcards
What are the two remedies that may be awarded in a tort case?
Damages = payment of money.
Injunction = an order of the court to stop doing something
In civil trial courts, what will the judge decide?
Liability
The amount of damages to be paid
If the winning party is entitled to the payment of their legal costs by the losing party.
How can one of the parties appeal against the decision of the judge?
Against liability = on the grounds that the judge misdirected themselves on relevant law
Against the amount of damages awarded = on the grounds that they were excessive or insufficient
What are the torts that require fault to be proved?
Negligence
Occupiers’ Liability
Psychiatric injury
Economic loss
What are strict liability torts?
Where the fault does not need to be proven.
Nuisance = an action to stop unreasonable use of neighbouring land
Rylands V Fletcher = an action for damage to land caused by material escaping from neighbouring land
Vicarious liability = when employee commits a tort in the course of their employment.
What is negligence in tort law?
An act or failure to act due to the fault of the defendant which causes injury or damage to another person or their property.
What case defines negligence?
Blythe V Birmingham Waterworks Co. 1856 by Baron Alderson as “failing to do something a reasonable person will do or doing something which a reasonable person would not do.”
What must be proved in a negligence claim?
Duty of care = reasonably foreseeable harm
Breach of duty = defendant falls below standard of care appropriate to the degree of risk
Damage caused = defendant’s risk causes damage.
What is occupiers’ liability?
Defined under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957, where the occupier of the premises owes a duty of care to lawful visitors.
