Ghana School of Law PLC: Law of Torts (GLC) flashcards

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

Neighbour principle

Lord Atkin's test in Donoghue v Stevenson: one must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions reasonably foreseeable as likely to injure persons so closely and directly affected that they ought to be in contemplation.

Caparo three-stage test

For novel duty situations: (1) foreseeability of damage to the claimant, (2) proximity between the parties, and (3) whether it is fair, just, and reasonable to impose a duty. All three limbs must be satisfied.

Pure economic loss

Financial loss unconnected to physical injury or property damage. Generally irrecoverable in negligence, except for negligent statements where there is an assumption of responsibility (Hedley Byrne v Heller).

Reasonable person standard

The objective measure of breach: the defendant must act as a reasonable and prudent person would in the circumstances, regardless of their own weaknesses, poverty, or inexperience.

Calculus of risk

The balancing exercise for breach: probability of harm, seriousness of potential injury, cost and practicality of precautions, and social utility of the activity are weighed together.

Bolam test

A professional is not negligent if they acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of professional opinion, even if other practitioners disagree.

Res ipsa loquitur

'The thing speaks for itself.' Where the accident is of a kind that normally does not happen without negligence and the cause was under the defendant's control, negligence may be inferred.

But-for test

Factual causation: the claimant must show that, but for the defendant's breach, the damage would not have occurred. If the harm would have happened anyway, the claim fails.

Novus actus interveniens

A new intervening act that breaks the chain of causation, such as an independent voluntary act of a third party or the claimant that is not a foreseeable consequence of the defendant's negligence.

Wagon Mound principle

Remoteness: a defendant is liable only for damage of a kind that a reasonable person would have foreseen; Re Polemis's direct-consequences test was overruled.

Eggshell skull rule

The defendant takes the claimant as they find them: if the injury is foreseeable, the defendant is liable for its full extent even if the claimant's unusual vulnerability made it worse.

Contributory negligence

The claimant's own failure to take reasonable care for their safety. It reduces damages to the extent the court thinks just and equitable, rather than defeating the claim entirely.

Volenti non fit injuria

A complete defence where the claimant knowingly and voluntarily consented to the risk of the defendant's negligence, with full knowledge of its nature and extent.

Ex turpi causa

Illegality: a claimant cannot recover for damage caused by their own criminal or seriously immoral conduct where allowing recovery would affront the public conscience.

Occupier

A person with a sufficient degree of control over premises, not necessarily the owner or tenant. More than one person may be an occupier of different parts.

Common duty of care

The occupier's duty to lawful visitors to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances to see that the visitor is reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes permitted.

Trespasser duty

Under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984, an occupier owes a duty only if aware of the danger, aware the trespasser may come into its vicinity, and the risk is one against which protection may reasonably be expected.

Vicarious liability

An employer's liability for torts committed by an employee in the course of employment, even without the employer's own fault. It requires a tort, an employment relationship, and the course of employment.

Close connection test

Vicarious liability may extend to an employee's intentional wrongdoing where the conduct is so closely connected with their employment that it is fair and just to hold the employer liable.

Safe system of work

The employer's personal, non-delegable duty to provide competent staff, adequate plant and equipment, a safe place of work, and a safe system of work for each employee.

Assault

An intentional act causing the claimant reasonably to apprehend an imminent battery. Words alone may suffice if they are threatening and create a reasonable apprehension of immediate violence.

Battery

The intentional application of unlawful force to the claimant's person, however slight, without consent or lawful justification. It is actionable without proof of damage.

False imprisonment

The intentional and complete deprivation of the claimant's liberty without lawful justification. The restraint must be total, and the claimant need not know of it at the time.

Trespass to land

An unjustified, direct interference with land in the possession of another, such as entering, remaining, or projecting objects onto it. It is actionable without proof of damage.

Conversion

An intentional dealing with goods inconsistent with the claimant's right of possession, such as selling or destroying them. Damages are measured by the value of the goods at the time of conversion.

Detinue

The wrongful detention of goods after a demand for their return. Unlike conversion, the defendant may have come into possession lawfully but refuses to return the goods.

Private nuisance

An unlawful, substantial, and unreasonable interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land. The claimant must have a proprietary interest in the land affected.

Public nuisance

An unlawful act or omission that materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of a class of the public. A private individual may sue only with special damage beyond the general inconvenience.

Rylands v Fletcher

Strict liability for damage caused by the escape of something likely to do mischief, brought onto land and kept there in a non-natural use, subject to defences such as act of God or act of a stranger.

Libel versus slander

Libel is defamation in permanent form (writing, print, broadcast) and is actionable per se; slander is transient (spoken words) and generally requires proof of special damage.

Qualified privilege

A defence to defamation for statements made in the performance of a duty or protection of an interest, provided they are made without malice and to those with a corresponding interest.

Mitigation of loss

The claimant's duty to take reasonable steps to avoid or reduce their loss after the tort. Loss that could reasonably have been avoided is not recoverable, and the defendant bears the burden of proof.