Tort law?

Tort deals looks at when one person can be liable to another for a civil wrong where the parties are not in a contractual relationship. A large part of the course deals with negligence. We look at the elements of negligence such as duty of care, breach of duty, causation and remoteness and damages. Defences will also be analysed.

Liability for particular types of injury such a psychiatric illness (nervous shock) and economic loss (liability for statements and defective premises) are also covered.

Other areas covered would include defamation, nuisance and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher, vicarious liability and liability for defective products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

Tutorials will tend to concentrate on answering problem questions. We will therefore deal with the law as well as problem-solving techniques. We will often discuss the role that policy has played in the development of the law of Tort as well as examining other methods of explaining why the law has developed in a particular way.