THE LAW OF TORTS ( With Brief Reference to Consumer Protection)

 

 Easy to Understand -Student Edition

 

 

 

Henrietta Newton Martin

(B.com, LLB (Gold Medallist), LLM (Gold Medallist), MMS, etc)

EDITION

 

 Every Law Student's Handbook on the Law of Torts- Easy to Read- Easy to Understand Edition.

 

2022 Ed

COPYRIGHT

Copyright: ©Henrietta Newton Martin, 2022

All rights reserved

 No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in

the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Published 2022, BR Publishers Germany

Second Print Edition to hit shortly by July 2022

 

DEDICATION

 Dedicated to my Family-Newtons & Martins

PREFACE

Welcome to the perspicuous edition of 'The Basics of the Law of Torts'.This easy-to-understand edition is a recommended must-have for every student of the Law of Torts. It is endeavored to keep content as simple as possible; Brevity in expression does not in any way mean a dearth of available material or that the allied topics are insignificant. The purpose of brevity is solely to encapsulate the principles adumbrated in this book in a clear and lucid manner to prevent students from being overwhelmed by legalese.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1  

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

 

Chapter 2

THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE 

 

Chapter 3

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

 

Chapter 4

BREACH OF STATUTORY DUTY

 

Chapter 5

TORT OF TRESPASS AND BATTERY

 

Chapter 6

TORT OF NUISANCE

 

Chapter 7

 

DEFENCES IN TORT AND REMEDIES UNDER LAW

 

Chapter 8

CONSUMER PROTECTION 

 

I                                                                                                                            

Bibliography

II

About the Author

 

 

 

CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL PRINCIPLES

 

What is Tort?

 

Tort means a ‘Civil Wrong’.

 

It has originated from the Latin word ‘tortum’ which means "twisted “or ‘wrung” or “crooked”. It pertains to a wrong or injury inflicted on a person or an act that is crooked, not aligned with the law, and is wrong.

 

The person, who commits a tort is called a "tortfeasor” or "Wrongdoer “

 

Wrongs may be a public wrong or a private wrong. Public wrongs are acts that violate public rights or contravention of public duty, which affects the entire community. Example criminal offense. Private wrongs are wrongs that trespass on private rights, rights of an individual, group of individuals, or even a corporate.

 

A tort is a private wrong, which infringes on the legal right of an individual or specific group of individuals.

 

Simply put - the law of torts deals with injuries or wrongs inflicted on a person which are civil in nature, and does not come within the ambit of breach of contract or breach of trust and that which can be tried in the civil courts. When an injury is inflicted, the aggrieved party is entitled to file a suit in the court of appropriate jurisdiction and seek a remedy in the court of law. The remedy may be in the form of unliquidated damages or other equitable relief such as injunction (to refrain from continuing to commit the wrong) etc to the injured. Unliquidated damages mean those damages that are not ascertained by the parties but calculated, fixed, and awarded by the court to the aggrieved party. Damages here mean ‘compensation’ for the loss incurred/injury inflicted.

 

Therefore, we can say that the law of tort addresses and provides remedies for non-contractual civil wrongs.

 

The most common example of tort is ‘Negligence’. The harm inflicted by a person or corporate to a person or property of another due to negligence or being unmindful is wrong and entitles the aggrieved party to claim a remedy before the court.

 

Here the aggrieved party suffers harm because of another party’s failure to exercise due care and caution.

 

While tort wrongs are civil in nature, they may have a tinge of an act being considered an offense under criminal law, however similar or dissimilar terms may be attributed. Example Negligent driving.

Other examples of Tort are nuisance, defamation, assault, battery, malicious imprisonment, or false imprisonment etc.

 

Classification of Tort

 

Broadly we can classify Tort into three types:

 

1. Intentional Tort- Intentional commission /omission amounting to a ‘wrong’.

 

2. Negligence: commission of an act or omission to do something carelessly, or without exercising due care and caution which is expected to be exercised by a man of normal prudence in reasonable circumstances.

 

3. Strict or absolute liability which is applicable to cases where the cause of the injury such as negligence need not be proved, but what matters is the palpable harm inflicted that has caused the injury or loss to the aggrieved party. What matters is that an action occurred and resulted in the eventual injury of another person.

 

Classic Landmark  case

Rylands Versus Fletcher-UKHL 1,(1868) LR 3 HL 330

The House of Lords established in this case the principle of 'Strict Liability'.

 

Definitions of Tort

 

Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Tort’, as “a wrongful act or an infringement of a right (other than under contract) leading to legal liability”.

Sir John Salmond has defined ‘Tort’, as a civil wrong for which remedy is a common-law action for unliquidated damages, and which is not exclusively the breach of contract, the breach of trust, or other merely equitable obligation.

 

In Salmond’s definition there are two elements:

 

1. Tort as a wrong, which is civil in nature. Example- There is an unreported case of a doctor who negligently forgot a sponge in the patient’s abdomen after surgery. This constitutes a wrong /tort of negligence and entitles the patient to claim a remedy.
2. Tort is a civil wrong but not a breach of contract or breach of trust- For example: As per the employment contract, the employer fails to pay the salary/remuneration. This is a contractual wrong. An example of a breach of trust would be the mismanagement of the company's assets by a director in a fiduciary position.

 

Britannica defines tort “as the concept encompasses only those civil wrongs independent of contracts”.

 

Collins dictionary definition – “A tort is something that you do or fail to do which harms someone else and for which you can be sued for damages”.

 Thereby summing the definitions, we find three basic components: 1. Legal Wrong 2. Legal Damage 3. The remedy under Law.

 

Elements of Tort

 

 Elements of Tort to establish a case /remedy

1. The tort-feasor has had a duty, to act in a way that does not cause harm to the aggrieved to the extent of the defined civil injury.
2. The tort-feasor has committed a breach of that duty.
3. As a result, there is an injury caused to the aggrieved
4. The breach of duty was the proximate cause of the injury inflicted.

 

 

General Elements / Ingredients

 

1. Act or Omission-There should be a wrongful act or omission to constitute a tort, which may be voluntary or involuntary
2. Negligence with or without intention or motive 
3. Malicious feature involved: Example in cases of defamation
4. It May involve nonfeasance malfeasance or misfeasance, -

[Nonfeasance means failure to perform an obligatory act where there was an obligation to perform it. Malfeasance means

the commission of an unlawful act. Misfeasance means performing a lawful act in a wrong manner.]

5. Violation of right of an individual

 

 

 

CHAPTER 2- THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE

Introduction:

 

The tort of

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.05.2022
ISBN: 978-3-7554-1458-2

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