Tort in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • M'Alister or Donoghue (Pauper) v Stevenson
    • House of Lords
    • 26 May 1932

    You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.

  • Rookes v Barnard
    • House of Lords
    • 21 January 1964

    It extends to cases in which the Defendant is seeking to gain at the expense of the Plaintiff some object,—perhaps some property which he covets,—which either he could not obtain at all or not obtain except at a price greater than he wants to put down. Exemplary damages can properly be awarded whenever it is necessary to teach a wrongdoer that tort does not pay.

  • Reckitt and Colman Products Ltd (t/a Colmans of Norwich) v Borden Inc. and Others
    • House of Lords
    • 08 February 1990

    First, he must establish a goodwill or reputation attached to the goods or services which he supplies in the mind of the purchasing public by association with the identifying "get-up" (whether it consists simply of a brand name or a trade description, or the individual features of labelling or packaging) under which his particular goods or services are offered to the public, such that the get-up is recognised by the public as distinctive specifically of the plaintiff's goods or services.

  • Anns v Merton London Borough Council
    • House of Lords
    • 12 May 1977

    First one has to ask whether, as between the alleged wrongdoer and the person who has suffered damage there is a sufficient relationship of proximity or neighbourhood such that, in the reasonable contemplation of the former, carelessness on his part may be likely to cause damage to the latter—in which case a prima facie duty of care arises.

  • Hedley Byrne & Company Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd
    • House of Lords
    • 28 May 1963

    Furthermore, if in a sphere in which a person is so placed that others could reasonably rely upon his judgment or his skill or upon his ability to make careful inquiry, a person takes it upon himself to give information or advice to, or allows his information or advice to be passed on to, another person who, as he knows or should know, will place reliance upon it, then a duty of care will arise.

  • Three Rivers District Council v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No. 3)
    • House of Lords
    • 22 March 2001

    The rationale of the tort is that in a legal system based on the rule of law executive or administrative power "may be exercised only for the public good" and not for ulterior and improper purposes: Jones v. Swansea City Council [1990] 1 W.L.R. 54, 85F, per Nourse L.J.; a decision reversed on the facts but not on the law by the House of Lords: [1990] 1 W.L.R. 1453, at 1458.

  • Doreen Ann Letang (Respondent) Frank Anthony Cooper (Appellant)
    • Court of Appeal
    • 15 June 1964

    If one man intentionally applies force directly to another, the plaintiff has a cause of action in assault and battery, or, if you so please to describe it, in trespass to the person. If he does not inflict injury intentionally, but only unintentionally, the plaintiff has no cause of action to-day in trespass. His only cause of action is in negligence, and then only on proof of want of reasonable care.

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Legislation
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Books & Journal Articles
  • Tort, Insurance and Incoherence
    • No. 67-3, May 2004
    • The Modern Law Review
    Some commentators have doubted whether, as is generally believed, liability insurance has had a significant expansionary effect on the law of tort. This article contends that the common assumption ...
  • Tort Law for Cynics
    • No. 77-5, September 2014
    • The Modern Law Review
    Tort scholars have in recent years defended a ‘traditional’ or ‘idealist’ view of tort law. In the context of negligence this implies that the holder of a duty of care must make an effort not to vi...
  • Tort Law Culture: Image and Reality
    • No. 39-4, December 2012
    • Journal of Law and Society
    This article highlights two contrasting images of tort. The first reflects the traditional portrayal of justice, depicting tort as an independent ‘natural’ system of rules of universal application ...
  • Tort, Insurance and Ideology: Further Thoughts
    • No. 75-3, May 2012
    • The Modern Law Review
    This article explores the impact of insurance arrangements on the development of the law of obligations. It is accepted orthodoxy that the existence or otherwise of a duty of care in tort should be...
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Law Firm Commentaries
  • Challenging Orthodoxy in Tort Litigation
    • LexBlog United Kingdom
    A post from the TortsProf blog brings news of an apparently interesting new book on torts. The introduction starts as follows: “From Hart Publishing comes a new torts book and a discount for our re...
  • UKSC: Damages in tort + surrogacy costs
    • LexBlog United Kingdom
    A third tort decision of the UK Supreme Court this week was that of Whittington Hospital NHS Trust v XX [2020] UKSC 14, available on BAILII. The claim arose from the negligent reporting of cervical...
  • UK Supreme Court confirms test for joint liability in tort
    • LexBlog United Kingdom
    In a case concerned with an environmental protest, the UK Supreme Court has provided clarity on the test for joint liability[1] in IP infringement (and indeed in all tort cases). In Sea Shepherd UK...
  • The Increasing Intersection of Criminal Law and Tort Law
    • LexBlog United Kingdom
    A significant topic for at least the next decade will be the interesection of criminal law, tort law and civil law (including the law on punitive damages). The issue is growing in prominence for ma...
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