Lecture 4-Torts

Tort

A civil wrong (other than a breach of contract) committed against a person or their property, breaching a legal duty imposed by law independently of agreement and granting the right to sue for compensatory damages.

Battery

Intentional, unauthorized, and harmful or offensive physical contact with another person.

Assault

The intentional creation in another person of a reasonable apprehension of imminent physical harm, even if no actual physical contact occurs.

False Imprisonment

The intentional, unlawful restraint of a person's physical liberty or freedom of movement within a bounded area without lawful justification or authority.

Libel

Defamation in a permanent, recorded form, such as written, print, broadcast, or internet statements.

Slander

Defamation in a transient form, such as spoken words or gestures.

Defamation Defences

Primary defences against defamation claims, including Truth (Justification), Fair Comment, and Qualified Privilege.

Slander of Goods / Injurious Falsehood

An intentional business tort involving false statements disparaging the quality of a competitor's goods or business to cause commercial harm.

Slander of Title

An intentional business tort involving false statements questioning a person's legal title or ownership of property, resulting in financial loss.

Breach of Confidence

A tort protecting confidential business or personal information imparted in a confidential relationship, where the recipient improperly uses or discloses it to the confider's detriment.

Four Essential Elements of Negligence

1) Duty of Care owed by the defendant; 2) Breach of the applicable Standard of Care; 3) Causation ('but for' test); 4) Actual Damages or recognized injury suffered by the plaintiff.

The Anns Test

A two-stage test for determining a duty of care: 1) Proximity or neighbourhood resulting in foreseeable harm; 2) Overriding policy considerations that may negate or restrict that duty.

Standard of Care: Ordinary Persons vs. Professionals

Ordinary persons are judged against the objective reasonable person under identical circumstances; professionals are judged against a reasonably competent, skilled, and careful practitioner in that field at that time.

'But For' Test

A factual causation rule establishing liability only if the plaintiff's injury would not have occurred without the defendant's negligent act.

Remoteness Rule (Wagon Mound)

A legal rule limiting liability only to damages that are a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the negligent conduct, rather than too remote or freakish.

Strict Liability (Rylands v. Fletcher)

Liability imposed without proof of fault or negligence when a person brings a non-natural thing onto land that is likely to do mischief if it escapes, and it subsequently escapes causing harm.

Vicarious Liability

A doctrine holding an employer or principal strictly liable for torts committed by an employee or agent during the course and within the scope of their employment.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

An evidentiary doctrine ('the thing speaks for itself') allowing courts to infer negligence when an accident would not normally occur without negligence and the instrumentality was exclusively under the defendant's control.

Occupiers' Liability

The statutory responsibility of land occupiers to exercise a common duty of care to ensure visitors are reasonably safe while on the premises.

Manufacturers' Liability

Negligence-based product liability holding manufacturers to a direct duty of care to ensure products are free from dangerous defects and provide adequate warnings of inherent risks.

Private Nuisance

A tort involving an unreasonable and substantial interference with an occupier's use and enjoyment of their land.

Contributory Negligence

A defence where the plaintiff's own carelessness contributed to their injury, resulting in the statutory apportionment of damages.

Voluntary Assumption of Risk (Volenti)

A rare, complete defence where the plaintiff knowingly and voluntarily accepted both the physical and legal risks of an activity.

Compensatory Damages

Monetary awards intended to restore the plaintiff to the position they would have occupied had the tort not occurred, encompassing special and general damages.

Punitive Damages

Exceptional monetary awards given to punish malicious, high-handed, or outrageous conduct rather than compensate for actual loss.