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tort law rules - Coggle Diagram
tort law rules
overview
tort law allows a person to claim compensation when they have been injured or their property has been damaged. the individual parties involved in a civil claim are the 'claimant' and the 'defendant'
the state is not usually concerned with tort law, as the action is between the persons involved in the incident. if the claimant is successful in proving their case, they will ask the court to award a remedy
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torts are established by both common-law rules and Acts of Parliament. they form part of what is known as private law, because the state does not get involved in them: i.e. they are not crimes that are investigated and prosecuted by public bodies to protect us all, rather they provide redress when we suffer damage to our person, property or enjoyment of our land through the non-criminal actions of others
fault or no fault
fault means that there is some wrong doing by the defendant, and is a requirement in torts such as:
- negligence
- occupiers' liability
however, it is not needed in torts such as:
- nuisance
- Rylands v Fletcher
- vicarious liability
in these, the claimant does not need to show how and why the incident happened- simply that it did, and then establish a casual link to the damage suffered
fault was first introduced into negligence law in Cambridge Water v Eastern Counties Leather (1994). before that, fault was not always necessary for damages to be paid
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remedies
remedies for successful action can be: - damages- money calculated to return the claimant to their original position before the tort had taken place (in so far as it is possible to do so with money), or
- injunction- a court order to stop; this is most common in torts such as trespass and nuisance
in civil cases, the general rule is that the loser pays the winner's legal costs in addition to their own costs, so it is a risky business
defences
as in criminal law, there are ways for a defendant to refute a claim. however, there are far fewer defences in civil law than in criminal law
defences generally divert blameworthiness away from the defendant back to the claimant, suggesting they were, to some degree, responsible for their own damage