Law of Tort Flashcards

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards based on the provided lecture notes covering the fundamentals of tort law, trespass, assault, battery, false imprisonment, and relevant case precedents.

Tort

A branch of civil law dealing with legal duties between people that are generally imposed by law rather than created by agreement or contract.

Objectives of Tort

The key legal objectives of tort law: appeasement, justice, deterrence, and compensation.

Mental Element in Tort

The state of mind required to establish liability in tort, ranging from intention to negligence, as well as strict liability.

Actionable Per Se

Torts that do not require proof of damage or loss to bring a legal claim, such as trespass.

Negligence

A state of mind characterised by carelessness, where a person does something intending damage or fails to take sufficient care to ensure that damage does not occur.

Natural Person

An ordinary human being acting as a party in a tort claim.

Legal Person

An organisation or entity recognized by law as having legal rights and obligations, such as a company or corporate body.

Claimant

The person or party who brings a tort claim.

Defendant

The person or party accused of committing a tort.

Tortfeasor

The person who committed the tort.

Vicarious Liability

A legal rule where one person or entity is held legally responsible for another person's actions, particularly within an employment context.

Subrogation

A legal mechanism in tort where an insurance company gets involved on behalf of a party.

Characteristics of Trespass

The core features of trespass: it must be intentional, direct, actionable per se, and protect fundamental rights.

Stanley V Powell (1891)

Case establishing that fault (intention or negligence) must be proven for trespass to the person, rejecting strict liability.

Fowler V Lanning (1959)

Case confirming that the claimant bears the burden of proving the defendant's relevant fault in a trespass claim.

Letang V Cooper (1965)

Case confirming that intention is the required fault element for trespass.

Direct Interference

A requirement of trespass where the harm is an immediate result of the act (e.g., a thrown log hitting someone), as opposed to indirect harm which falls under negligence.

Trespass to Land

The oldest tort (over 800 years old) protecting a claimant's lawful and exclusive possession of land, including substrata and airspace necessary for enjoyment.

Possession (Land)

The exclusive right to occupy land coupled with the intention to exclude others.

Kelsen V Imperial Tobacco Ltd (1957)

Case showing that a tenant with exclusive possession can bring a claim for trespass to land, and that trespass extends into airspace above the land.

League Against Cruel Sports V Scott (1985)

Case establishing that intention to trespass does not need to be expressly stated and can be inferred from a party's actions.

Conway V George Wimpey (1951)

Case demonstrating that lack of knowledge that land is private does not automatically prevent liability for trespass.

Southwark London Borough Council v Williams [1971]

Case establishing that the defense of necessity in trespass to land requires an imminent threat to life or property, not social necessity.

Assault

An intentional act that threatens violence or produces in the claimant a reasonable expectation of immediate unlawful force.

Thomas v National Union of Miners (1986)

Case establishing that a claimant's fear of violence must be reasonable, meaning no assault exists if the claimant knows the threat cannot be carried out.

Battery

The direct and intentional application of force to another person without consent.

Fagan V Metropolitan Police Commissioner (1969)

Case establishing that battery can occur when an initial unintentional contact is knowingly maintained without being rectified.

Wilson V Pringle (1987)

Case holding that battery requires intentional contact and proof that the touching was hostile.

Collins V Wilcock (1984)

Case clarifying that ordinary, socially acceptable physical contact does not constitute battery.

Cole V Turner (1704)

Case establishing the traditional rule that even the slightest unlawful touching can amount to battery.

Re F; F V West Berkshire Health Authority (1990)

Case questioning the hostility requirement, establishing that touching can be battery without hostility if there is no legal excuse.

Transferred Intention

A doctrine accepted in battery (e.g., Livingstone V Ministry of Defence (1984)) where an intention to hit one person transfers to an unintended hit victim.

False Imprisonment

The unlawful, complete restriction of a claimant's freedom of movement, which does not strictly require being locked inside a room.

Meering V Graham-White Aviation Co Ltd (1919)

Case ruling that false imprisonment can occur even if the claimant is unaware of the restriction on their movement at the time.

Robinson V Balmain New Ferry Company Ltd (1910)

Case demonstrating that imposing a reasonable condition before allowing a person to leave does not necessarily constitute false imprisonment.

Rule in Wilkinson V Downton

A distinct tort that requires intention and is not actionable per se, addressing intentionally inflicted indirect harm or psychiatric damage.

O v A

Case reaffirming the rule in Wilkinson V Downton by identifying three required elements: a conduct element, a mental element, and a consequence element.