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GDL Law Notes GDL Tort Law Notes

Introduction Notes

Updated Introduction Notes

GDL Tort Law Notes

GDL Tort Law

Approximately 591 pages

A collection of the best GDL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through applications from top students and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of GDL notes available in the UK this year. This collection of GDL notes is fully updated for recent exams, also making them the most up-to-date GDL study materials ...

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The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our GDL Tort Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

Tort Law : Introudction

  • ‘A tort is an injury, other than a breach of contract, which the law will redress with damages’ (Fleming)

  • eg ‘personal injury’; ‘defamation’; ‘nuisance’; ‘professional negligence’

  • ‘strict liability’—automatically liable without fault. VS ‘fault liability’.

  • Tortfaesor (defendant) vs wronged (claimant)

  • Some torts actionable per se : possible to establish without showing you have suffered damage, without proof of loss.

  • Remedy: monetary compensation, damages.

  • Maxim: level of compensation must suit the tort.

  • Distinguished from other wrongs:

    • Crime: crime is public law; law of tort is form of private law, between individuals.

    • Contract: Contracts give rise to duties voluntarily undertaken by a specific party owed to another specific power. Tortious duties are of general application. Law of obligations = contract law and law of tort, combined.

    • Equity: equitable remedies, such as specific performance, the trust, and the equity of redemption.

  • Interests protected

    • Physical harm to person (trespass, negligence).

    • Psychiatric harm (negligence, trespass).

    • Physical harm to property (negligence, nuisance).

    • Loss of reputation (defamation--).

    • Loss of enjoyment of land (nuisance).

    • Pure economic loss (negligence, public nuisance).

    • [‘consequential’ financial loss?]

    • [Privacy (negligence, trespass to land, nuisance)?]

  • Role of public policy

    • Possible to detect hand of policy in many landmark judgements.

    • Public policy particularly important in limiting the scope of ‘duty’ in negligence claims.

    • Eg consideration as to ‘floodgates’ (Donoghue v Stevenson [1932]);

    • Eg issue of insurance (Lord Denning in Lamb v Camden Borough Council [1981]; Lord Phillips in Vowles v Evans [2003].

    • Denning in Lamb v Camden: while duty of care, causation and foreseeability were all useful devices for limiting liability, ultimately it was a question of policy for the judges to decide. Ratio of the case: a defendant is only liable for the act of a third party (in this case squatters) where the third party intervention is a foreseeable consequence of the original negligence; but policy considerations and the relationship between the defendant and third party may be taken into account.

    • Eg ‘crushing liability’ on the defendant (Lord Denning in Spartan Steel v Martin [1970]);

    • Eg retributive justice and deterrence (Lords Reid and Wilberforce in Cassell v Broome [1972]).

    • Most common policy reference is to the ‘floodgates’ of...

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