Okay, so I study by grabbing information from lectures, textbooks, study groups and, pretty much anywhere someone is willing to have a chat about a relevant topic. I then curate them into this handy numbered and subtitled format to save me time in the long run - and in turn, to save you time as well. My notes are simplistically complex by outlining the legal jargon paired kindly with real people language (like a nice cheese and wine combo), you'll be nailing the exams in a flash. Good luck, I hop...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Tort Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
Week 1 – The Role and Function of Tort Law 2
WEEK 1 – PRIVATE NUISANCE 4
WEEK 2 – NELGIGENCE 7
WEEK 3 – DUTY OF CARE: MENTAL INJURY 9
WEEK 4 – OCCUPIERS LIABILITY 14
WEEK 4 – PUBLIC AUTHORITIES 16
WEEK 5 – BREACH OF DUTY 19
WEEK 5 – BREACH OF DUTY 22
WEEK 7 – CAUSATION 25
WEEK 7 – CAUSATION 2 28
WEEK 8 – DEFENCES 30
WEEK 8 – DEFENSES 30
WEEK 9 – CONCURRENT LIABILITY: VICARIOUS LIABILIABY & NON-DELIGABLE DUTY 32
WEEK 9 – DAMAGES 37
WEEK 10 & 11 – THEORETICAL TORTS 40
LAWS1061 – Torts
What is tort law?
Concerns the obligations of persons living in a crowded society to respect the safety, property and personality of their neighbours
As an a priori matter cause and effect
As a duty of compensate for wrongfully caused harm ex post after the fact
Common law and statute
“crisis”
Caused by an ever-increasing level of litigation producing ever increasing damages awards
Created by an extremely litigious society bend on not taking responsibility for an individuals own actions
Aims of Australian tort reform process
To reduce litigation
Reduce compensation payable to insurers and to make insurance affordable
Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW)
Impacts multiple torts in different ways
Based on and modifies the common law, but does not replace it
Definition of trespass, nuisance, negligence and breach of statutory duty are important
The role of tort law
Compensatory function
To compensate people injured for a wrong
Sometimes compensation is not enough to cover all the damages EG quadriplegic
Problematic
Other ways of spreading both the risk of harm and the liability to pay would be more effective
Basis of liability
Theoretical approaches to tort law
Deterrent function, law and economics, and insurance
If the wrongdoer is punished or made to pay for an accident he or she will try to avoid such accidents in the future
The fear of criminal prosecution is more likely
Guido Calabresi and Richard Posner – the goal of accident law should be to reduce the costs of accidents
For many years though tort law ignored the existence of insurance
Insurance prevents the deterrent function of tort law from operating by preventing the damages flowing from the wrong doer
Corrective justice and civil resource theory
Moral rights
Weinrib – responsibility: when is a person who causes harm responsible to compensate for the harm caused?
Focused on individuals and their obligations
Civil recourse theory focuses on the sense of being wronged and that when people are wronged their natural instinct is to seek vengeance
Distributive justice and risk allocation
A way of distributing goods, risk and looses
Also distributing risk EG benefits of vaccines
Compensation is for the purpose of placing the plaintiff back into the position they were before the wrong was done
Feminist theory of tort law
From whose point of view has the law been made?
Does the law perpetuate patriarchy or male domination
Concerned with the valuing of women’s work for damage purposes
And rationality as men are considered more rational then women so it would not be out of character for them to be subject to injury
HOT COFFEE DOCUMENTRY
Liebeck v McDonalds 1992
An elderly women was severely burnt after spilling coffee on herself sitting in the passenger seat of a stopped car
Stella Liebeck went into shock and went to hospital
$10,000 medical bills with 16% of her body burnt and some were 3rd degree
Unreasonably hot and therefore unreasonably dangerous
The media coverage changed the premise and facts of the story creating Liebeck to look like the villain
$2.9million in compensation reduced to less than $500,000 after media
Need tort reform
Explosion of litigation producing unreasonably large damages awards
Curb frivolous suits filed by litigious plaintiffs with minor injuries who believe that they deserve large damages awards
Ensure that people take personal responsibility for their action
What is it?
Arose out of the action on the case
Protects a person’s right to use and enjoyment of their land
In order to establish an action of private nuisance the plaintiff must establish they have a title to sue, the defendant had requisite knowledge of the nuisance, the nuisance was substantial or unreasonable
Title to sue
Only the person with rights in or over the property has standing to sue
The individual must:
Be the owner or tenant of the property
Unless has a reversionary interest in the land
Be in actual possession of the property
Has the right to exclusive possession
Interests protected
The interests protected by nuisance include those to do with the land itself
Interference with enjoyment of the land
Can be tangible or intangible
Tangible include:
Indirect physical injury to the land
Intangible include:
Sensible personal discomfort
Protection of certain rights relating to land
Interference with rights including easements and support of land
Interference with the right to support of the land in its natural state so that if the defendant excavates in such a way that the neighbors land collapses, is a common law nuisance
Interests not protected
Certain invasions do not qualify as private nuisance
No right to natural light
Or to view from his property
Others being able to see into a building does not constitute
Unreasonable interference
There must be give and take between a defendant’s right to use property and the plaintiffs right to enjoy their property
The court must seek to balance the competing interests of both parties
Assessment of the defendants activity
The defendants actions and utility or usefulness of the defendants conduct are considerations in assessing the give and take
Who can be sued
Proof of fault is required to be sued
The creator of nuisance:
The occupier of land is not always liable for the nuisance
The creator of nuisance is...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Tort Law Notes.
Okay, so I study by grabbing information from lectures, textbooks, study groups and, pretty much anywhere someone is willing to have a chat about a relevant topic. I then curate them into this handy numbered and subtitled format to save me time in the long run - and in turn, to save you time as well. My notes are simplistically complex by outlining the legal jargon paired kindly with real people language (like a nice cheese and wine combo), you'll be nailing the exams in a flash. Good luck, I hop...
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