Law of Torts
English tort law English tort law concerns civil wrongs, as distinguished from criminal wrongs, in the law of England and Wales. Some wrongs are the concern of the state, and so the police can enforce the law on the wrongdoers in court – in a criminal case. A tort is not enforced by the police, and it is a civil action taken by one citizen against another, and tried in a court in front of a judge (only rarely, in certain cases of defamation, with a jury). Tort derives from middle English for "injury", from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin tortum, from Latin, neuter of tortus "twisted", from past participle of torquēre.
Following Roman law, the English system has long been based on a closed system of nominate torts, such as trespass, battery and conversion. This is in contrast to the Continental legal systems, which have since adopted more open systems of tortious liability. There are various categories of tort, which lead back to the system of separate causes of action. The tort of negligence is however increasing in importance over other types of tort, providing a wide scope of protection, especially since Donoghue v Stevenson. For liability under negligence a duty of care must be established owed to a group of persons of which the victim is one, a nebulous concept into which many other categories are being pulled. But as Lord MacMillan said in the case, "the categories of negligence are never closed".[1]
Negligence
See also: Negligence and Professional negligence
A decomposed snail in Scotland was the humble beginning of the modern law of negligence
Negligence is a tort which targets a breach of duty by one person to another. The famous landmark case of Donoghue v Stevenson,[2] in which Mrs Donoghue, the claimant, consumed part of a drink containing a decomposed snail while in a public house in Paisley, Scotland. The snail was not visible, as the bottle of ginger beer in which it was contained was opaque. Neither her friend, who bought it for her,
Following Roman law, the English system has long been based on a closed system of nominate torts, such as trespass, battery and conversion. This is in contrast to the Continental legal systems, which have since adopted more open systems of tortious liability. There are various categories of tort, which lead back to the system of separate causes of action. The tort of negligence is however increasing in importance over other types of tort, providing a wide scope of protection, especially since Donoghue v Stevenson. For liability under negligence a duty of care must be established owed to a group of persons of which the victim is one, a nebulous concept into which many other categories are being pulled. But as Lord MacMillan said in the case, "the categories of negligence are never closed".[1]
Negligence
See also: Negligence and Professional negligence
A decomposed snail in Scotland was the humble beginning of the modern law of negligence
Negligence is a tort which targets a breach of duty by one person to another. The famous landmark case of Donoghue v Stevenson,[2] in which Mrs Donoghue, the claimant, consumed part of a drink containing a decomposed snail while in a public house in Paisley, Scotland. The snail was not visible, as the bottle of ginger beer in which it was contained was opaque. Neither her friend, who bought it for her,
References: • S Deakin, A Johnston and B Markesinis, Tort Law (2003) 5th Ed. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-925711-6 • M Lunney, K Oliphant, Tort Law – Texts, Cases (2003) 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-926055-9 • Cases, Materials and Text on National, Supranational and International Tort Law ISBN 1-84113-139-3