NCA Torts flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Duty of care test

A duty arises where harm is reasonably foreseeable, there is proximity between the parties, and it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty.

Reasonable person standard

The defendant is judged against an ordinary competent person exercising the same activity, not against their own subjective skill or best efforts.

Res ipsa loquitur

The thing causing harm was under the defendant's exclusive control and the accident would not ordinarily occur without negligence, permitting an inference of breach.

Professional standard of care

A professional must act as an ordinary skilled member of their profession would; a practice accepted by a responsible body of opinion is generally not negligent.

But for test

Factual causation is established where, but for the defendant's breach, the claimant's harm would not have occurred on the balance of probabilities.

Material contribution

Where harm is cumulative and indivisible, a defendant who materially contributed to the risk of harm may be liable even without proof of individual causation.

Novus actus interveniens

A free, deliberate and informed intervening act breaks the chain of causation, relieving the original wrongdoer of liability for subsequent harm.

Joint and several liability

Where several tortfeasors cause indivisible harm, each is liable for the full amount, subject to the claimant not recovering more than once.

Remoteness of damage

A defendant is liable only for damage of a kind reasonably foreseeable at the time of breach; the precise manner or extent need not be foreseeable.

Thin skull rule

The defendant takes the victim as found, so unforeseeable exacerbation of a foreseeable injury remains compensable in full.

Contributory negligence

A partial defence reducing damages to reflect the claimant's own fault in contributing to the harm, often expressed as a percentage reduction.

Volenti non fit injuria

A complete defence where the claimant, with knowledge of the risk, freely and voluntarily accepted it, thereby consenting to the harm.

Special relationship

A relationship of proximity and reliance between adviser and advisee that gives rise to a duty of care for negligent statements causing economic loss.

Pure economic loss

Financial loss not consequent on physical damage to the claimant's person or property; generally not recoverable in negligence absent a special relationship.

Assumption of responsibility

A defendant who undertakes to advise or act for the claimant may owe a duty to those who reasonably rely on that undertaking.

Reasonable reliance

The claimant must show actual reliance on the statement and that such reliance was reasonable in all the circumstances.

Common duty of care

An occupier must take reasonable care to ensure lawful visitors are safe for the purposes for which they are present on the premises.

Trespasser duty

An occupier owes trespassers only a duty not to cause injury by reckless or deliberate conduct, or such duty as statute prescribes.

Non-delegable employer duty

An employer owes a personal duty to employees to provide a safe workplace, safe plant, competent staff and a safe system of work.

Vicarious liability

An employer is liable for torts committed by an employee in the course of employment, including acts closely connected with authorised duties.

Battery

The intentional application of unlawful force to another person without consent; the force need not be hostile if it is direct and intentional.

Assault

An intentional act causing another person reasonably to apprehend immediate unlawful force, without consent or lawful justification.

False imprisonment

The intentional and complete deprivation of another's liberty without lawful justification; the claimant need not be aware of it at the time.

Self-defence

A defence requiring an honest and reasonable belief in the need for force and a response proportionate to the threat faced.

Strict liability

Liability imposed without proof of fault; the claimant must prove the harm and causal link, but not that the defendant was negligent.

Rylands v Fletcher rule

Liability for the escape of a dangerous thing brought onto land in a non-natural use, causing foreseeable damage to another's land.

Non-natural use

A use of land that is extraordinary or inappropriate to the locality, excluding ordinary domestic or ordinary commercial use.

Product liability

Strict liability imposed on producers for defective products causing physical damage or personal injury, subject to statutory defences.

Private nuisance

An unlawful and substantial interference with the claimant's use and enjoyment of land, judged by locality, duration, sensitivity and malice.

Public nuisance

An unlawful act or omission endangering the life, health, property or comfort of the public; a private claimant must show special damage.

Nuisance remedies

Damages compensate for loss of amenity or diminution in value; injunctions restrain the interference, and abatement permits self-help removal.

Prescription defence

Twenty years' continuance of the nuisance by the defendant may give a prescriptive right to continue the activity, barring an injunction.