Articles tagged as Tort Law
Latest Law Papers tagged as Tort Law
Including law essays, dissertations, problem questions, case summaries, and law lectures, suitable for law students working towards their LLB / LLM qualifications or those studying for the new SQE.
Southwark London Borough Council v Williams [1971] Ch 734
Case Summaries
Homeless occupiers could not resist the council’s possession claims by relying on necessity or its statutory housing responsibilities. The Court of Appeal upheld the possession orders. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Marc Rich & Co AG v Bishop Rock Marine Co Ltd [1995] UKHL 4
Case Summaries
The House of Lords held that NKK owed no duty of care to the cargo owners on the assumed facts, taking account of the maritime liability and insurance arrangements. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Mogul Steamship Co Ltd v McGregor, Gow & Co [1892] AC 25
Case Summaries
The House of Lords dismissed Mogul’s appeal: commercial loss caused by the defendants’ lawful competitive methods did not establish an actionable conspiracy. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Storey v Ashton (1869) LR 4 QB 476
Case Summaries
The employer was not liable when his driver began a separate personal journey. The court distinguished that from a detour made while still carrying out the employer’s business. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Smith v Austin Lifts Ltd [1959] 1 WLR 100
Case Summaries
A lift fitter’s knowledge of a defective door did not defeat his claim where its position had changed to create a misleading appearance of safety. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd [1999] UKHL 45
Case Summaries
The House of Lords rejected automatic privilege for political reporting and explained how the circumstances and quality of a publication determine qualified privilege. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Gray v Thames Trains Ltd [2009] UKHL 33
Case Summaries
The House of Lords barred claims for losses caused by Gray’s manslaughter and detention, while preserving his entitlement to compensation for the original crash injuries. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582
Case Summaries
Bolam concerned competing medical practices, risk warnings and the standard of an ordinarily competent practitioner. The jury found for the hospital. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Campbell v MGN Ltd [2004] UKHL 22
Case Summaries
The House of Lords restored Naomi Campbell’s damages award after balancing privacy in her treatment details against the newspaper’s freedom of expression. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
S Pearson & Son Ltd v Dublin Corporation [1907] AC 351
Case Summaries
Pearson v Dublin Corporation [1907] AC 351: fraudulent misrepresentation, contractual disclaimers and responsibility for an agent’s fraud. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Page v Smith [1995] UKHL 7
Case Summaries
Page succeeded on the legal test for psychiatric injury as a primary victim, but the House of Lords sent the disputed causation issue back to the Court of Appeal. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Cook v Square D Ltd [1992] ICR 262
Case Summaries
An employer’s duty of reasonable care continued on an overseas assignment, but Square D was not required to inspect or supervise this third-party site on the particular facts. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Wright v Lodge [1993] 4 All ER 299
Case Summaries
The Court of Appeal distinguished the lorry driver’s reckless crossing of the central reservation from the initial collision with a broken-down car. Contribution depended on which injuries the earlier negligence legally caused. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Allen v Flood [1898] AC 1
Case Summaries
The House of Lords held by six to three that malice alone did not make Allen liable where he procured neither a breach of contract nor a loss through unlawful means. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Poland v John Parr & Sons [1927] 1 KB 236
Case Summaries
An employee’s mistaken attempt to protect his employer’s sugar from theft remained within his implied authority, despite his being on his way home for lunch. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Swain v Natui Ram Puri [1996] PIQR P442
Case Summaries
A child trespasser’s claim failed because the statutory knowledge requirement was not established. The case distinguishes actual or deliberately avoided knowledge from facts an occupier merely ought to have discovered. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Sturges v Bridgman (1879) 11 Ch D 852
Case Summaries
Why long use of noisy equipment did not establish a prescriptive right: Sturges explains nuisance, locality and the effect of later development. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust [2006] UKHL 34
Case Summaries
Majrowski confirmed that employers can be vicariously liable for harassment under the 1997 Act. The House of Lords restored the claim for trial without deciding that harassment had been proved. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Leakey v National Trust [1979] EWCA Civ 5
Case Summaries
The National Trust was liable for failing to respond reasonably to a known natural hazard. The Court of Appeal explained the limits of an occupier’s duty to protect neighbouring land. ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5
Case Summaries
A girl suffered catastrophic brain injury at birth through admitted NHS negligence, reducing her life expectancy to 29. The Supreme Court, by a majority, overruled Croke v Wiseman, holding that young children can recover damages for pecuniary losses during the 'lost years'. Background The claimant, CCC, suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury during her birth […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Tindall and another v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police [2024] UKSC 33
Case Summaries
After police attended a black-ice accident on the A413 and then left, a later collision on the same ice killed Malcolm Tindall. His widow argued that the police had made matters worse by displacing another person’s warning efforts, or had come under a duty to protect later road users. The Supreme Court dismissed her appeal: […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
HXA v Surrey County Council [2023] UKSC 52
Case Summaries
HXA v Surrey County Council and YXA v Wolverhampton City Council were heard together. Both asked when a council that knows a child may be at risk at home takes on a legal responsibility to protect that child from harm by someone else. The distinction mattered because the claimants sought damages in negligence for steps […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Okpabi and others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and another [2021] UKSC 3
Case Summaries
Communities in Rivers State, Nigeria, sued Royal Dutch Shell Plc in England over oil spills from pipelines operated by its Nigerian subsidiary, and sought to join that subsidiary to the claim. The Supreme Court held that they had an arguable case that the UK parent owed them a duty of care, so the claim should […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP [2021] UKSC 20
Case Summaries
Grant Thornton gave Manchester Building Society incorrect advice about hedge accounting. When the error came to light, the society had to close interest rate swaps at a loss. The dispute was whether the purpose of the accountants’ advice made them responsible for that loss, even though market movements had affected its size. Background Manchester Building […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
Secretary of State for Health and another v Servier Laboratories Ltd and others [2021] UKSC 24
Case Summaries
The NHS bodies alleged that deception of the European Patent Office and the courts had delayed generic competition and increased their costs. Even assuming the allegations were true, could they sue for the tort of causing loss by unlawful means when those institutions did not deal with them? The dispute The Secretary of State for […] ...
Last modified: 4th Nov 2026
