Tort Law

Tort law! this is the big famous one and the one they love so much in america, i think; when you threaten to sue it prolly falls under this jurisdiction

"wtf is a tort?"

Good question! Short answer, tort means 'wrong'. Long answer, it's, complicated? Unlike contract law, where yknow, it deals with contracts, tort seems to be just a bunch of 'wrongs' all grouped under the same heading, including but not limited to negligence (the big one), tresspass, defamation, nuisance, and the like. Peter Cane puts it as 'a collection of civil wrongs for which the law provides a remedy'.

Obligations, CDs, Aims

In life the law imposes on us a number of obligations, primary obligations, which exists in our daily lives, for us to respect others' interests; and secondary obligations, imposed by law to reverse consequence of the breach.

For a tort to succeed, the ingredients the tort is used in must be satisfied - i.e. the injury of the claimant (hereinafter 'C'), and the wrong of the defendant (hereinafter 'D').

Torts generally have (4) aims:

• (corrective) justice
• Torts are a method of justice, requiring D to 'put things right' - were you to viciously steal my mug and smash it, for no good reason; 'justice' (enabled or authorised by whether morality or philosophy or otherwise (this nebulous a concept will not be discussed here)) would require you to, make good my loss.
• Obviously this itself is contentious in cases - corrective justice relies on the idea personal responsibility. Were a person to willingly put themselves in a dangerous situation, and their injury or death, albeit caused by another, is an expected risk of said dangerous situation - how responsible is the other for the harm? (id est see Woodroffe-Hedley v Cuthbertson (1997)
• compensation
• compensation can be further separated into compensation, making good of the harm; and retribution, giving up the gains from the breach (of obligation)
• deterrence
• inquiry/publicity/accountability
• See the civil case of The Omagh Bombing.

Negligence

A successful claim of negligence requires four aspects. Duty, Breach, Causation, and Damage.

Duty (of Care)

*Very important discussion on Compensation Culture*

very much work in progress, if you haven't yet noticed