DOC in tort- EQ

According to Tony Weir, what is the true nature of the 'duty of care' concept in negligence?

It is a fictional tool used to retrospectively justify outcomes decided on other grounds.

Nicholas McBride argues that duties are 'real' normative obligations because the law awards _____ to prevent threatened future injury.

quia timet injunctions

How did Lord Goff characterize the function of the duty of care in Smith v Littlewoods Organisation Ltd?

He argued its function is to identify cases where liability is not imposed rather than where it is.

Why does David Howarth critique the 'floodgates' argument used in cases like Sutradhar v National Environment Research Council?

It perversely reduces liability as the scale and severity of the harm caused increases.

What threshold issue was established in Bourhill v Young regarding the scope of a defendant's duty?

A duty is only owed to claimants who are reasonably foreseeable as being within the zone of danger.

Under the 'neighbour principle' in Donoghue v Stevenson, who is considered one's 'neighbour' in law?

Persons so closely and directly affected by an act that the defendant ought to have them in contemplation.

The two-stage test in Anns v Merton LBC required establishing proximity and then checking for any _____.

policy considerations that ought to negative or reduce the scope of the duty

In Caparo Industries plc v Dickman, what three factors are used to determine a duty of care in novel situations?

Reasonable foreseeability, proximity, and whether it is fair, just, and reasonable to impose liability.

How did Murphy v Brentwood District Council affect the expansionist approach established in Anns?

It overruled Anns and restricted liability for pure economic loss resulting from defective foundations.

According to Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, when should the Caparo tripartite test be applied?

It should only be used in novel cases where established principles or precedents do not provide an answer.

In the case of Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, why did the Supreme Court correct the Court of Appeal’s duty analysis?

The lower court improperly used breach-related concerns about A&E pressures to deny the existence of a duty.

What is the general common law rule regarding liability for 'pure omissions'?

There is no duty to protect others from harm or to take care to prevent injury by third parties.

How does the Supreme Court in Tindall v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police distinguish 'making things worse' from 'failing to improve'?

Liability arises only if the defendant's act makes the claimant worse off than if the defendant had not acted at all.

What specific exception to the omission rule was applied in Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co Ltd?

A duty arises when the defendant exercises a high degree of control over a dangerous third party.

Why was the claim in Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales struck out regarding the police response?

The police had not assumed responsibility for the victim's safety or put her in a worse position.

In HXA v Surrey CC, why were the local authority's initial protective steps insufficient to establish an assumption of responsibility?

Internal administrative decisions fall short of a specific undertaking to safeguard a particular individual.

Define the 'Interference Principle' as articulated in Tindall v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police.

A duty arises if A prevents or deters a third party from helping B when A knows B needs help.

What did Lord Reed clarify in GN v Poole Borough Council regarding the treatment of public authorities in negligence?

Public authorities are generally subject to the same common law principles and liabilities as private individuals.

The case of Swinney v Chief Constable of Northumbria established a duty of care to a police informant based on _____.

an assumption of responsibility through a specific promise of confidentiality

Why did the House of Lords in Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire refuse to impose a duty on the police?

There was a lack of proximity to unknown future victims and policy concerns regarding defensive policing.

In Stovin v Wise, Lord Hoffmann argued that imposing a duty for omissions is a greater intrusion on _____ than regulating positive acts.

personal freedom

What policy reason was cited in D v East Berkshire for denying a duty of care to parents during child abuse investigations?

Imposing such a duty would create a conflict of interest with the professional's primary duty to the child.

How did the ECtHR ruling in Osman v United Kingdom influence English procedural law regarding the duty of care?

It made courts more cautious about using blanket immunities to strike out claims at an early stage.

The parallel Human Rights Act claim in Michael v CC South Wales survived strike-out because Article 2 requires a _____.

real and immediate risk to human life of which the authorities knew or ought to have known

What was the significance of Z v United Kingdom (2001) regarding the gap between negligence and human rights law?

It provided a remedy under Article 3 where domestic negligence law had failed to protect children from abuse.

Jane Stapleton advocates for 'transparency' by urging courts to unmask the _____ they use to decide duty cases.

substantive policy factors

How does Christian Witting propose to give 'proximity' distinct factual content within the Caparo framework?

He suggests defining proximity through the identification of significant causal pathways.

In Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co, why was the claim for lost profit due to the power cut denied?

The loss was classified as pure economic loss, which is generally not recoverable in negligence acts.

The basis for recovery of pure economic loss in Hedley Byrne v Heller is the defendant’s _____.

assumption of responsibility toward the claimant

What did the Supreme Court decide in Smith v MOD regarding the non-justiciability of battlefield conditions?

Decisions regarding equipment procurement are not automatically non-justiciable even if they relate to military operations.

Why did Lord Steyn in The Nicholas H refuse to find a duty of care for the ship classification society?

Imposing a duty would disturb the delicate contractual balance between cargo owners and shipowners.

According to Ronald Dworkin, why is incrementalism alone insufficient for legal development?

He argued that analogy without an underlying theory to guide it is blind.

What is the 'Why pick on me?' argument as described by Lord Hoffmann in Stovin v Wise?

It is the fairness concern that arises when selecting one person to bear a duty to rescue among many.

In Barrett v Enfield LBC, how did the court suggest policy concerns should be handled in public authority cases?

Policy concerns and the exercise of discretion are better addressed at the breach stage rather than the duty stage.

The case of Capital & Counties v Hampshire CC showed that a fire brigade owes a duty if they _____.

take a positive action that makes the situation worse

In Chief Constable of Northamptonshire v Woodcock [2025], the court rejected a duty of care because there was no specific _____.

assumption of responsibility or engagement of the interference principle

Lord Nicholls argued in D v East Berkshire that abandoning the duty of care concept would not clarify the law unless it was replaced by a _____.

control mechanism

What is the 'Revisionism' critique of Lord Reed's judgment in Robinson as articulated by Janet O’Sullivan?

It retrospectively re-characterises policy-based precedents as simple applications of the omissions rule.

Why does the Human Rights Act provide an 'inadequate substitute' for negligence in cases of serious non-fatal injury?

Article 2 only applies where there has been a deprivation of life.

In the context of statutory powers, Gorringe v Calderdale MBC established that a common law duty cannot be based on _____.

the mere existence of a statutory power to act

What is the 'Cynical' view of the duty of care's role in tort law?

It is a pragmatic control device used to limit liability and keep the negligence principle within practical bounds.

Ernest Weinrib's 'Corrective Justice' view argues that policy is _____ to the structure of tort law.

alien

How does the case of Kent v Griffiths align ambulance services with other NHS medical professionals?

It held that ambulance services owe a duty of care to patients once they accept a call.

In Marc Rich & Co AG v Bishop Rock Marine Co Ltd, the duty was denied partly because the defendant was a _____ acting for the public good.

non-profit organization

Why did the House of Lords in Mitchell v Glasgow City Council refuse to find a duty to warn of a risk of violence?

There was no assumption of responsibility for the safety of the specific person at risk.

According to the Law Commission, what would be the benefit of a statutory tort of 'administrative redress'?

It would provide accountability for public authorities using a higher 'gross negligence' fault threshold.

What did Cardozo CJ famously warn against in Ultramares Corporation v Touche?

Exposing defendants to liability in an indeterminate amount for an indeterminate time to an indeterminate class.

In the case of SXH v Crown Prosecution Service, why was a duty of care to the suspect denied?

The CPS owes a duty to the public to prosecute crimes, and a private duty would create a conflict of interest.

What did Lord Mance argue in his Robinson concurrence regarding 'direct physical damage'?

It should not be treated as an axiomatically established category because its origin was also based on policy.

James Plunkett argues that incrementalism is difficult to apply because there is no _____ level of generality for legal categories.

uniquely correct

The 'defensiveness argument' suggests that imposing a duty might make public officials excessively _____.

cautious or risk-averse in their decision-making

In Sutradhar v NERC, Lord Hoffmann stated that defendants can be liable only for things they did, not for _____.

what they did not do

What is the procedural consequence of a case being decided at the 'strike-out' stage?

The court decides the duty of care based on assumed facts without hearing evidence on breach or causation.

How does the 'Real Duty' view explain the award of preventive damages in Bolton v Stone?

It argues the duty exists to protect the claimant from future harm, not just to compensate past damage.

In Hall v Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust, why were the widow and daughter considered unforeseeable claimants?

The defendants had no knowledge of the perpetrator’s previous psychotic history.

What was the 'heroic age' described by Lord Reid in Dorset Yacht?

A period of closed categories of liability that ended with the neighbor principle in Donoghue v Stevenson.

Why did the Court of Appeal in Rowley v SSWP deny a duty of care regarding child maintenance applications?

A common law duty would be inconsistent with the existing detailed statutory appeals process.

In X v Bedfordshire, what 'balancing exercise' did the court identify as a reason to deny a duty?

The difficult professional task of weighing the risks of taking children into care against leaving them at home.

What is the primary difference between declarative and procedural policy in duty of care analysis?

Declarative policy concerns the 'Fair, Just and Reasonable' test, while procedural policy concerns case filtering.

In Airport Authority v Western Air, why was the Authority held to owe a duty regarding the stolen plane?

The Authority exercised exclusive control over airport security upon which the airline was reliant.

What did Lord Steyn argue in Hall & Co v Simons regarding the 'defensiveness' of the police?

He suggested the argument that police would become detrimentally defensive was based on a flimsy foundation.

According to Percy Buckland, the duty concept is circular because we only know a duty existed after _____.

a court has retrospectively decided to impose liability

How does the 'Atkinian' duty relate to EJ Weinrib’s theory of negligence?

It is viewed as a normative unit that binds the defendant's fault to the claimant's right.

In the case of Woodcock [2025], why did the failure to warn not constitute a breach of duty?

No duty was owed because the police had not assumed responsibility or prevented other help.

Why is the distinction between 'acts' and 'omissions' considered a 'labelling issue' in GN v Poole?

The traditional distinction is often difficult to apply in borderline cases involving public authorities.

What did Felix Cohen mean by describing duty concepts as 'word charms'?

He argued they are empty verbal formulas used to obscure the ethical nature of judicial choices.

In McLoughlin v O’Brian, the extension of duty to the 'immediate aftermath' of an accident is an example of _____.

incremental development of the law

Why does Paul Craig argue that a public authority’s 'discretion' does not automatically make a matter non-justiciable?

Discretion exists even in mundane tasks, so it should be handled as a question of breach rather than duty.

The Supreme Court in Michael v CC South Wales opted for a 'uniform' understanding of duty to avoid _____.

creating special categories of liability for public bodies based solely on their status

What does the 'Atkinian' model of duty emphasize as the foundation of negligence?

The moral and legal obligation to avoid harming one's neighbor through reasonably foreseeable acts.