Ghana School of Law PLC: Law of Torts (GLC) study guide
Ghana School of Law PLC: Law of Torts (GLC) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Law of Torts is one of the core substantive papers in the Ghana School of Law's Professional Law Course, the vocational stage that Ghanaian law graduates must complete before being called to the Bar. The paper is for LLB graduates who already know the black-letter rules and now need to apply them the way a practitioner does: to a client's facts, under time pressure, in the Ghanaian legal setting. The Ghana School of Law PLC: Law of Torts (GLC) study guide has 12 sections and about 5,663 words.
01Introduction, Aims of Tort Law, and Tort Distinguished from Crime and Contract
This opening domain is where examiners test classification: can you say what tort law is for, and can you put a problem into the correct cause of action before you analyse its elements? Most lost marks here come from candidates who start writing about negligence in answer to a question about the nature of tortious liability.
509 words, about 3 min02Negligence: Duty of Care, the Neighbour Principle and the Caparo Test
Duty of care questions examine whether the defendant was ever in a relationship of responsibility towards this claimant at all, before you discuss how carelessly he behaved. Donoghue v Stevenson established that a manufacturer owes a duty to the ultimate consumer of a product even without a contract.
428 words, about 2 min03Negligence: Breach of Duty and the Reasonable Person Standard
Breach asks whether the defendant's conduct fell below the standard of the hypothetical reasonable person - not whether harm occurred, and not whether the defendant meant well. Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks defines negligence as doing what a reasonable person would not do, or omitting what he would do.
461 words, about 2 min04Negligence: Causation, Remoteness and the Wagon Mound Principle
This domain separates two questions examiners love to conflate: did the defendant's breach actually cause the damage (causation in fact), and if so, is that damage close enough in law (remoteness)? But-for test : would the damage have occurred anyway?
433 words, about 2 min05Defences to Negligence: Contributory Negligence, Volenti and Illegality
Defences questions examine whether liability, once established, should be reduced or extinguished. Each defence operates at a different level, and examiners penalise candidates who run them as if interchangeable.
494 words, about 2 min06Occupiers' Liability to Entrants and Trespassers
Occupiers' liability questions test two things: whether the defendant is an occupier at all, and what standard of care was owed to the particular entrant. Occupier is a question of control, not ownership (Wheat v Lacon).
502 words, about 3 min07Employers' Liability and Vicarious Liability
Two distinct liabilities appear here, and examiners withhold marks from candidates who merge them: the employer's own personal duty to his workforce, and vicarious liability for wrongs of employees towards third parties. Wilson and Clyde Coal Co v English established four non-delegable duties: Competent staff : safe recruitment and supervision.
470 words, about 2 min08Trespass to the Person: Assault, Battery and False Imprisonment
Trespass to the person protects bodily integrity and liberty. It is actionable without proof of actual damage, which is why it suits claimants whose injury is dignitary rather than financial.
473 words, about 2 min09Trespass to Land and Interference with Goods
This domain protects possession rather than ownership, and examiners test whether you can identify the correct action for the interference described. An unjustified, direct entry onto land in the possession of another.
485 words, about 2 min10Nuisance: Private, Public and the Rule in Rylands v Fletcher
Nuisance protects the use and enjoyment of land; Rylands v Fletcher imposes strict liability for escapes from land. The examination skill is choosing between them and stating the correct elements.
479 words, about 2 min11Defamation and the Protection of Reputation
Defamation protects reputation. Questions usually turn on meaning, identification, publication and then the defences, and examiners expect you to handle each element in order.
451 words, about 2 min12Remedies: Damages, Remoteness, Mitigation and Injunctions
Remedies questions test whether you can quantify loss and choose the right remedy, rather than whether liability exists at all. Damages aim to put the claimant in the position he would have occupied but for the tort.
478 words, about 2 min