Tort Law Research Area

You are free to use this Tort Law section to help with your tort research, tort essays and writing tort law dissertations.

The History of Tort Law

Derived from Latin, the concept and principles of tort have developed quite steadily through the years so that, from the late 1950’s onwards, incentives and deterrence’s have been emphasized with tort’s aim identified as being the efficient distribution of risk as part of what is often described as the ‘law and economics movement’. But then it is also important to appreciate that the law of tort has since come to effectively refer to a body of law that looks to provide remedies for civil wrongs that are not derived from contractual duties in the intervening period. As a result, this effectively means that someone who is legally injured may use the principles involved with tort to recover damages from someone who is ‘liable’ for those injuries that is said to arise from a breach of a duty that has been primarily fixed by law that is held towards others generally, with a breach that is considered to be redressable through the award of damages.

Therefore, with this in mind, the concept of tort law effectively defines what is considered a legal injury, and establishes the circumstances whereby an individual may be held liable for another’s injury resulting from either intentional acts or accidents. Consequently, on this basis, in England, following the traits first established within the precepts of Roman Law many centuries ago, this legal system domestically has long been based on nominate torts including assault and battery that stands in sharp contrast to the more ‘open’ Continental approach to tortuous liability.

 

Sections of interest for Tort Law

Please click on a tort law section starting with "The Most Famous Tort Cases".

 

 

 

Bibliography - Tort Law

Curzon. L. B ‘Dictionary of Law’ 5th Edition, Pitman Publishing (1998)

Davies. P ‘The NHS in the UK 2007/08: A Pocket Guide’ The NHS Confederation (2007)

Deakin. S, Johnston. A & Markesinis. B. S ‘Markesinis & Deakin’s Tort Law’ Clarendon Press (2003)

Gardiner. S ‘Sports Law’ 2nd Edition, Cavendish Publishing Ltd (2001)

‘Halsbury’s Laws of England’ Lexis Nexis, Butterworths (2007)

Lord Woolf ‘Access to Justice – Final Report’ (July 1996) London, HMSO

McIlwaine. L ‘Tort Reform & the “Compensation Culture”’ (2004) 4 JPI Law 239

Morris. S ‘Jodie & Mary: The point where the law, ethics, religion and humanity are baffled’ The Guardian Sat. Sept. 9th 2000

Weir. T ‘Tort Law’ Oxford University Press (2002)

Withey. C ‘Comment - The Fraud Act 2006 - Some Early Observations & Comparisons with the Former Law’ (2007) 71 JoCL 220

Official Tort Documents

 

The Law Commission ‘The Illegality Defence in Tort’ Consultation Paper No.160 (2001)

Table of Cases - Tort Law

AB v. Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust [2004] EWHC 644 (QB)

Alcock v. The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire [1992] 1 AC 310

Blyth v. Birmingham Waterworks (1856) 11 Exch 781

Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118

Bolitho v. City & Hackney Health Authority [1997] 4 All ER 771

Bolton v. Stone [1951] AC 850

British Railways Board v. Herrington [1972] AC 877

Caldwell v. Maguire and Fitzgerald [2001] EWCA Civ 1054

Cattle v. Stockton Waterworks Co (1875) LR 10 QB 453

Christopher Andrews v. Barnett Waddingham LLP and Raj Waddingham [2006] EWCA Civ 93

Cooke v. Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland [1909] AC 229

Donoghue v. Folkestone Properties Ltd [2003] 2 WLR 1138

Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] AC 562

Entick v. Carrington (1765) 19 St Tr 1029

Giles v. LCC (1903) 68 JP 10

Gough v. Thorne [1966] 3 All ER 398

Hall v. Brooklands Auto-Racing Club (1933) 1 KB 205

Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v. Heller & Partners Ltd [1963] 2 All ER 575

Home Office v. Dorset Yacht Co Ltd [1970] AC 1004

Hughes v. Waltham Forest Health Authority [1991] 2 Med LR 155, CA

Jebson v. Ministry of Defence [2000] 1 WLR 2055 (CA)

Jolley v. Sutton London Borough Council [2000] 1 WLR 1082

Jones v. Fay (1865) 4 F & F 525,

Lamb v. Camden LBC [1981] QB 625

Landau v. Werner (1961) 105 Sol Jo 1008, CA

Lochgelly Iron & Coal v. M’Mullan [1934] AC 1

McFarlane v. E.E. Caledonian Limited [1994] 2 All ER 1

McFarlane v. Tayside Health Board [2000] SC (HL) 1

McLoughlin v. O’Brian [1983] 1 AC 410

Miller v. Jackson [1977] QB 966

Mogul Steamship Co. Ltd v. McGregor, Gow & Co. (1889) LR 23 QBD 598

Montgomery v. Murphy (1982) 136 DLR (3d) 525

Morin v. Bonhams & Brooks [2004] 1 All ER (Comm) 880

Mullin v. Richards [1998] 1 All ER 920

Murphy v. Brentwood D.C. [1991] AC 398

Nance v. British Columbia Elwy [1951] AC 601

National Coal Board v. England [1954] AC 403

Nettleship v. Weston [1971] 3 All ER 581

Paris v. Stepney Borough Council [1951] 1 All ER 42

Pitts v. Hunt [1990] 3 All ER 344

Protea Leasing Limited v. Royal Air Cambodge Company Limited [2002] EWHC 2731 (Comm)

R v. Cheshire [1991] 3 All ER 670

R v. Dear (1996) CLR 595

R v. Dudley & Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273

R v. Ghosh [1982] QB 1053

R v. Malcherek [1981] 1 WLR 690

R v. Notman [1994] Crim LR 518

R v. Pagett (1983) 76 Cr App R 279

R v. Preddy [1996] AC 815

R v. Sofroniou [2003] Crim LR 381

Ratcliffe v. Plymouth & Torbay Health Authority [1998] Lloyd’s Rep Med 162, CA

Revill v. Newberry [1996] 1 All ER 291

Roe v. Minister of Health [1954] 2 All ER 131

Rootes v. Shelton [1968] ALR 33

Rylands v. Fletcher (1866) LR 1 Exch 265

S.C.M Ltd v. W.J. Whittall [1971] 1 QB 344

Sidaway v. Bethlehem Royal Hospital Governors [1984] 1 All ER 1018

Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories (1980) 607 P 2d 924

Smith v. Leech Brain & Co. (1962) 2 QB 405

South Australia Asset Management Corporation v. York Montague Ltd (SAAMCO) (1997) AC 191

Taff Vale Railway v. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants [1901] AC 426

The Wagon Mound (No 1) [1961] AC 388 (PC)

Tomlinson v. Congleton Borough Council [2004] 1 AC 46

Tremayne v. Hill [1987] RTR 131

Watt v. Hertfordshire County Council [1954] 2 All ER 368

Wells v. Cooper [1958] 2 All ER 527

White v. Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police [1999] 1 All ER 1

Wilsher v. Essex Area Health Authority [1986] 3 All ER 801

Wilson v. Governor of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School [1997] EWCA Civ 2644

Yorkshire Dale Steamship Co v. Minister of War Transport [1942] AC 691


Table of Statutes - Tort Law

Animals Act 1971

Compensation Act 2006

European Convention on Human Rights 1950

Fatal Accidents Act 1976

Fraud Act 2006

Human Rights Act 1998

NHS Redress Act 2006

Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957

Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984

Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995

Theft Act 1968

Theft Act 1978

Trade Disputes Act 1906


order