1. Law of Tort
A ‘tort’ is a legal wrong, for which the law provides a remedy. It is a civil action taken by one
citizen against another and tried in court. A person who sustains injury or suffers pecuniary
damage as a result of the wrongful act of another person is known as the plaintiff and the
person who is responsible for inflicting the injury and incurs liability for the damage is known as
the defendant or tortfeasor.
The law of torts derives from a combination of common-law principles arising from case law
and legislative enactments. It can be distinguished from actions for breach of contract simply
on the basis that tort actions are not dependant on any agreement between the parties to the
lawsuit. While criminal prosecutions are enforced by the police and brought by the
government, tort actions are brought by private citizens. In addition, tortfeasors will not receive
fines or be sentenced to prison through civil courts.
Some examples of tort law
Negligence
The tort of negligence is the most common type of tort you will come across and is the term
used to characterize behaviour that poses unreasonable risks of harm to persons and property.
The elements that need to be established for the tort of negligence are:
 The existence of a duty of care between the defendant and the plaintiff
 A breach of that duty by the defendant (did his behaviour fall below the threshold of a
‘reasonable man’?)
 Injury or loss suffered by the plaintiff as a direct result of the defendant’s breach
Three further factors that must be considered when establishing duty of care: that the harm
was reasonably foreseeable; that the defendant and plaintiff were in a relationship of
‘proximity’; and that it is fair, just and reasonable to impose liability on the defendant.
Nuisance
People have the right to quiet enjoyment of their own land and if anyone should interfere with
that, be it through being noisy, creating bad smells or polluting the land they are liable to be
sued by the property owner under the nuisance tort law.
Remedies
Successful plaintiffs in tort law cases will usually be awarded compensation in ‘damages’ or
money. However, in the case of a continuing tort or a tort that is merely threatened, the court
may grant an injunction to prevent future harm.

2. Case Law
Dominion Natural Gas v Collins and Perkins [1909] AC 640, PC
Held, that the initial negligence having been found against the appellants in
respect of an easy and reasonable precaution which they were bound to have
taken, they were liable unless they could shew that the true cause of the accident
was the act of a subsequent conscious volition, e.g., the tampering with the
machine by third parties.
Hambrook v Stokes Bros [1925] 1 KB 141, CA
Held (by Bankes and Atkin L.JJ.; Sargant L.J. dissenting), that, on the assumption
that the shock was caused by what the woman saw with her own eyes as
distinguished from what she was told by bystanders, the plaintiff was entitled to
recover, notwithstanding that the shock was brought about by fear for her
children's safety and not by fear for her own. Dictum of Kennedy J. in Dulieu v.
White & Sons [1901]1 2 K. B. 669 disapproved.