Module Identifier | LA36030 | ||
Module Title | TORT | ||
Academic Year | 2002/2003 | ||
Co-ordinator | Professor Richard A W Kidner | ||
Semester | Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters) | ||
Other staff | Professor Ryszard W Piotrowicz | ||
Co-Requisite | LA10110 or LA30110 or LA15710 | ||
Course delivery | Lecture | 48 Hours three one hour lectures per week over both semesters | |
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 Hours Seminar. five one hour seminars in each semester | ||
Assessment | Semester Exam | 3hr Hours Candidates must answer four out of eight or nine questions, including at least two from section B which will consist of problem questions. | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | By Examination. | ||
Professional Exemptions | Required for Professional Purposes |
General Description
We begin with a study of the Law of Trespass and then proceed to Negligence in all its aspects. Students will discover not only how social and economic policy have vitally affected the question of liability for fault and the potential range of that liability, but also the analytical structure of the tort of Negligence. This is a vibrant area of the law which has been much developed in recent years and which is still subject to considerable controversy. After dealing with defences and vicarious liability (the liability of an employer for torts committed by his employees), the course deals with further torts, particularly those dealing with the duties of a property owner, such as nuisance and liability for pollution. As a whole the course deals with how the law sets standards of both personal and commercial behaviour for the avoidance of damage and is essential not only in its own right but also in relation to many other areas of the law.
Syllabus
Syllabus:
1. General Principles
2. Social and Economic Context of Tort
TRESPASS
3. Trespass to the Person
(a) Battery and assault
(b) The intentional infliction of emotional distress
(c) False imprisonment
(d) Defences to trespass to the person
4. Trespass to Land
5. Intentional Interference with Chattels
(a) Trespass to goods
(b) Conversion
6. Trespass and Negligence
NEGLIGENCE - THE BASIC PRINCIPLES
7. Duty of Care
(a) The meaning of duty
(b) The unforseeable plaintiff
8. Standard of Care
(a) The reasonable man
(b) The skill of the defendant
(c) Other factors
(d) Exceptions to true objectivity
9. Proof of Negligence
10. Causation and Remoteness of Damage
(a) Causation
(b) Remoteness of damage
11. Reform
(a) The Pearson Commission
(b) The New Zealand system of no fault liability
NEGLIGENCE - FURTHER DUTY PROBLEMS
12. Omissions
13. Liability of Public Bodies
14. Nervous Shock
15. Negligent Misstatement
16. Economic Loss - Negligent interference with prospective advantage
17. Duty of Care and Contract
18. Products Liability
(a) Contract
(b) Negligence
(c) Consumer Protection Act 1987
19. Unborn Children
DEFENCES
20. Contributory Negligence
21. Consent
(a) The effect of notice
(b) Consent - volenti non fit injuria
22. Ex turpi causa/illegality
VICARIOUS LIABILITY
23. Vicarious Liability
(a) The legal theory
(b) The nature of 'employment'
(c) The course of employment
(d) Independent contractors/the self employed
FURTHER TORTS
24. Breach of Statutory Duty
25. Occupiers Liability
(a) Liability to visitors
(b) Liability to trespassers and other non-visitors
26. Nuisance
(a) Public nuisance
(b) Private nuisance
27. Strict Liability: Rylands v Fletcher
28. Liability for Fires
29. Control of Special Forms of Pollution
(a) Nuclear escape
(b) Disposal of waste
30. Liability for Animals
31. Defamation