LAW OF TORT

1.0 LAW OF TORT

1.1 DEFINITION

- A part of our civil liability system

- Deals  with wide range of situation - providing remedies for various injuries.

- The word ‘ tort’ itself - French for ‘wrong’ -now to mean a wrong recognized by law.

Winfield - tort as a wrong the victim of which is entitled to redress / specific civil wrong or injury.

2. FUNCTIONS

 Law of torts has two function:

- to determine when a person has to pay compensation for harm wrongly caused.

- to determine what conduct may be stopped or regulated by the court’s order.

3. KINDS OF INTEREST

Kinds of interest that law of torts protect against:

a. person - assault, battery, personal injury

b. property - trespass, nuisance, interference with goods

c. financial - deceit, economic loss

d. reputation - defamation, libel,malicious prosecution

1.4 HOW ARISES

A tort arises not simply out of the infliction of injury to the interest stated above but in the infliction of a legally recognized injury

- Liability in tort  may arise:

1. Primary - where a person is liable for his own act or omission in breach of a legal duty

2. Vicarious- Where a person is liable for the act or omission of another with whom he stand in some special relationship

1.5 MAIN CATEGORIES OF TORTS

1. Trespass

2. Negligence

3. Nuisance

4. Strict Liability - Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher

5. Vicarious Liability