Table of Contents
PRINCIPLES OF TORT LAW
Introduction
- The word tort originates from the French language. It is equivalent to the English word “wrong” and Romanian law’s term “delict”. It is derived from the Medieval Latin word “tortum” which means “wrong” or “injury”.
It is a breach of duty which amounts to a civil wrong.
- A tort arises when a person’s duty towards others is affected, an individual who commits a tort is called a tort feasor, or a wrongdoer.
- And where there are multiple individuals involved, then they are called joint tort feasors.
- Their wrongdoing is called as a tortious act and they can be sued jointly or individually.
- The main aim of the Law of Torts is the compensation of victims.
PRINCIPLE OF INJURIA SINE DAMNUM AND DAMNUM SINE INJURIA
- Damnum sine injuria is a Latin maxim which means damage without legal injury.
- (Gloucester Grammer School case)
- Injuria sine damnum is a Latin term which means legal injury without
- any damage.(ashby vs white 1703)
PRINCIPLE OF VICARIOUS LIABILITY
The essential elements of vicarious liability are as follows:
- There must be a relationship of a certain kind.
- The wrongful act must be related to the relationship in a certain way.
- The wrongful act must be done within the course of employment.
- Master-servant relation
- Principal’s liability for the act of his agent
- Liability of partners for each other’s torts.
PRINCIPLE OF VOLENTI NON FIT INJURIA
- “to one who volunteers, no harm is done”.
- Essential elements constituting volenti non fit injuria are as follows:
- Voluntary
- Agreement (express or implied)
- Knowledge of the risk
PRINCIPLE OF NEGLIGENCE
Essential elements of negligence are as follows:
- Duty to take care
- Beach of such a duty
- Legal damage caused to the complainant due to a breach of duty
PRINCIPLE OF NUISANCE
- It is an interference with the right to enjoyment of land of a large number of people thereby causing inconvenience and annoyance. It is committed against the community at large and not any particular individual.
- Examples: Fireworks in the street, construction of a structure in the middle of a public way obstructing the passage of people, etc.
PRINCIPLE OF TRESPASS TO PROPERTY
- Trespass to property refers to an unjustifiable physical encroachment of land of one person by another. If a person directly enters upon another person’s land without permission or remains upon the land or places any object upon the land, he is said to have committed the tort of trespass to land.
PRINCIPLE OF STRICT LIABILITY AND ABSOLUTE LIABILITY
STRICT LIABILITY:
- At times a person may be held responsible for doing a wrong even though there had been no negligence on his part or no intention to do such wrong or even if he had taken necessary steps to prevent such a wrong from happening. This is known as the principle of strict liability and is based on a no fault theory.
ABSOLUTE LIABILITY:
- Absolute liability is a stricter form of strict liability. It refers to the no fault theory liability in which the wrongdoer is held absolutely liable for the act of omission or commission without any defences which are available to the rule of strict liability.
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