Professional Engineering Practice Introduction to Law for Engineers Image credit: PCStuff 03:50, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Pre-test

Pre-test

Legal system in Canada Based on English common-law Laws come from Legal precedence (judges define this in ruling on cases – “judge-made” law) Legislation (government writes this) “codified” in statutes Regulations can be made in accordance with statutes and also constitute a law

Basic terminology (From Marston p9) Litigation – a lawsuit Plaintiff – the party making the claim or complaint (bringing the action) – usually the Crown in criminal cases Defendant – the party against whom the claim has been made (defending the action). In criminal cases, “the accused” Appellant – the party appealing the decision of a lower court Respondent – the party seeking to uphold a decision of a lower court, that is being appealed Privity of contract – the legal relationship between parties to a contract More terms will be defined in next few weeks

Law topics Definitions Case questions Learn these “Tort law” – plaintiff “wronged” and was “owed a duty of care” Contract law – process of tendering, legality of purpose, mistakes, breach of contract, “equitable estoppel” Equity – employment equity, human rights, harassment Environmental law Other – controlled goods, space law, classified information, RSSSA, privacy laws

Concept of a contract Legally enforceable agreement between two parties. Requires 5 elements: Offer made and accepted Mutual intent to enter into the contract Consideration (e.g. money) Capacity to contract Lawful purpose Can be written or oral (e.g. the coffee I bought this morning) Will revisit this later

Tort law – core principals The defendant owed the plaintiff a “duty of care” The defendant breached that duty by his or her conduct The defendant’s conduct caused “injury” to the plaintiff “duty of care” – applied a reasonable degree of care, “reasonable” being measured by the conduct of a “reasonable person” in the circumstances For a professional engineer, the standard is much higher than for a lay-person The likelihood of injury or damage should have been “reasonably” foreseeable There is no requirement for a contractual relationship for tort liability to arise E.g. builder damages a neighbouring property

Liability Once a Tort has been established, we can address the question of responsibility for compensating: Strict liability: in the US, a manufacturer may be “strictly liable” for damage resulting from the use of a product they manufacture even though they were not negligent in producing it. Covered by liability insurances. Vicarious liability (deep pocket theory): if an employee commits a tort in the course of employment, the employer will be vicariously liable for the damage caused. They are in a better financial position to pay out than the employee Concurrent tortfeasors: more than one party may be liable in a tort action. Judge will decide relative responsibility of each tortfeasor

Law question structure Introduction This case deals with <legal concept> History of the legal concept, including key elements (such as conditions for a contract or conditions for proving tort) Analysis Parties to the law case Have the conditions been proven? Liability What liability exists under the legal concept? Decision Summary regarding what a court would likely decide and why Damages that might be recoverable Overall Clear connection between case and law, clear analysis and decision

Post-test

Post-test

Post-test