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Recite the main points of the text.
Unit 9. The Law of Tort
Words to be remembered.
tort ,
tortious liability
negligence ,
wrong
foreseeable ,
injury , ,
nuisance ,
absentee ,
structural damage ,
owe , ( -
-)
trespass to land
actionable
per se (.)
plaintiff
intrusion
surveillance , ,
unjustifiable
denial ,
harm ,
lawful justification
intimidation
treat
detriment ,
passing off
confusion ,
deceit
misstatement
defamation
defamatory
libel
shun to make somebody shun -
slander
conspiracy ,
Text for reading.
Importance of Tortious Liability
Tortious liability is important for businesses which are liable, amongst other things, for their negligence and that of their employees, for failure to ensure the safety of their premises and disturbances affecting neighbouring occupiers. Persons are liable in respect of specific actionable wrongs called torts, which are classified according to whether they affect the person, property, economic rights, reputation or general rights.
Torts affecting the person
Negligence: breach of a duty of care owed to a person causing foreseeableinjury to the person.
Torts affecting property
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(i) Private nuisance: an indirect interference with anothers use or enjoyment of land. Owed to the occupier of land not generally to an absentee owner unless future occupation is affected, for example by structural damage. This includes interference through smells, vibrations, penetration by roots and so on.
(ii) Trespass to land: direct interference with a persons rights of possession to land. Includes entry onto property and placing things on property. The duty is owed to the possessor even if he is not the owner. The tort is actionable per se, that is actionable without proof of damage. Land can be the subject of trespass not merely at ground level but also below ground and in the sky. Thus in Kelsen v. Imperial Tobacco Co. (of Gt Britain and Ireland) LTD [1957], the court recognised trespass by a sign which projected in the airspace over the plaintiff s shop, and in Woolerton and Wilson v. Richard Costain (Midlands) Ltd [1970], a crane travelling over the air space constituted trespass. In Bernstein v. Skyviews & General Ltd [1977], the court refused to recognise as trespass to land the intrusion of a plane at a height of over 600 (s.40 Civil Aviation Act 1949 provides a defence in this case but the judge did suggest that constant surveillance from the air could be an actionable nuisance).
(iii) Trespass to goods: a wrongful interference with goods in the possession of another, for example, touching, marking or taking away.
(iv) Conversion: an act in relation to goods which constitutes an unjustifiabledenial of the title of the true owner. The wrong is against the true owner. This includes taking away goods plus a denial that the person from whom they have been taken is the owner. Sale of goods by a non-owner constitutes conversion against true owner.
(v) Negligence: breach of a duty of care in respect of the property of another causing foreseeable harm.
(vi) Rylands v. Fletcher: allowing things stored or collected on land, which were not natural to the land, to escape and cause damage to property of another. Strict liability: for example, water escaping from reservoirs.
