Types of English Civil Law

English Civil Law Two most important subcategories: Law of Contract Law of Torts

Law of Contract Contract law concerns all aspects of the making, keeping, and breaking of promises and agreements Contract law governs different types of agreements without regard for who made them or what their subject matter is

Contract v. Agreement A promise is a commitment to do or not to do something in the future An agreement is an exchange of promises Contract v. Agreement – a contract is a legally enforceable agreement

Definition Contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties which the court will enforce

Translate Sir Anson’s definition: Contract is a legally binding agreement made between two or more persons, by which rights are acquired by one or more to acts or forbearances on the part of the other or others. * forbearance – nečinjenje, propuštanje

Subcategories of the law of contract Shipping contracts Hire purchase contracts Sale of goods

Law of torts Tort – a Norman-French word which means a wrong. In English law: a civil wrong; a wrong committed by one citizen against another not serious enough to amount to the breaking of the criminal law No criminal liability, just civil liability Less serious wrongs not punished by the state

What is Law of Torts? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ6smN 3lcnY

Parties The offender (the persons who commits a wrong to another) is called a TORTFEASOR The injured party is called a CLAIMANT

Wrongful behaviour The major difference between the law of contract and the law of tort is that with respect to the law of tort, the law has fixed what kind of behaviour is wrongful (tortious behaviour) With respect to the law of contract, the contractual agreement between the parties lays down what will be seen as wrongful behaviour

Compensation of damages The claimant (formerly plaintiff) may recover damages for their injury (physical or mental) and loss Special damages: losses that can be precisely quantified in monetary terms General damages – losses that cannot be exactly defined in monetary terms (the actual pain suffered, expected future losses) Where the claimant’s general or special damages are negligible, the court may award nominal damages

Categories of the law of torts Intentional torts: when the person causing the harm meant to do so Negligence: carelessness Strict liability: the actor is responsible even though he did not mean to harm the victim and exercised care in trying to avoid the harm

Types of torts Negligence Nuisance Trespass Defamation (libel and slander)

Negligence A failure to apply reasonable care in order to avoid foreseeable injuries to others The duty to avoid being negligent is defined in terms of ordinary care Ordinary care generally means the degree of care that would be used by a reasonable person under the same or similar circumstances Professional and personal negligence

Law of negligence The modern law of negligence was established in Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562. In order to be successful in a negligence claim, the claimant must prove: 1. the defendant owed them a duty of care; 2. the defendant was in breach of that duty; 3. the breach of duty caused damage and; 4. the damage was not too remote.

A case study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgEYzgr Nvy0 1. What was the case? 2. Why is it important? 3. Who owes us duty of care (i.e. who is my neighbour?)

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 House of Lords Mrs Donoghue went to a cafe with a friend. The friend brought her a bottle of ginger beer and an ice cream. The ginger beer came in an opaque bottle so that the contents could not be seen. Mrs Donoghue poured half the contents of the bottle over her ice cream and also drank some from the bottle. After eating part of the ice cream, she then poured the remaining contents of the bottle over the ice cream and a decomposed snail emerged from the bottle. Mrs Donoghue suffered personal injury as a result. She commenced a claim against the manufacturer of the ginger beer.

Her claim was successful Her claim was successful. This case established the modern law of negligence and established the neighbour test.

Who is my neighbour? "The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question " Who is my neighbour ?" receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injur your neighbour. Who then in law is my neighbour ? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question." Lord Atkin

Nuisance An unreasonable interference with another person’s use or enjoyment of property The injured party may sue for an injunction or damages, or both Interference must be continuous Public nuisance (affects many people or the whole community) Private nuisance (interferes with the individual’s enjoyment or use of property) Mixed nuisance – both public and private

Trespass An unlawful entry to another person’s property Any unauthorized intrusion or invasion of private premises or the land of another Continuous trespass – continued presence on the land of another (injunction)

Defamation Oral (slander) or written (libel) injury of somebody’s reputation An intentional false communication that injures another person’s good name The claimant must prove that the defamatory statement was made with malice (knowing it was false or with a reckless disregard as to whether it was true or false)

Contract and tort Translate the following sentence: Contract and tort are related to one another: a trader who sells dangerous goods can be sued in negligence for injuries so caused and may also be held liable for a breach of a contractual duty to see that his goods are of merchantable quality.

Vocabulary Hire purchase contract – ugovor o kupnji na otplatu Tort – delikt Tort law - odštetno pravo Negligence – nemar Nuisance – smetnja Trespass – ometanje posjeda Defamation – kleveta Claimant – tužitelj u građanskoj parnici Injunction – sudski nalog, sudska zabrana Damages - odšteta

Complete the definitions below: ______ __ indirect injuries to a person’s property or his enjoyment of property. _________ injurious breach of a legal duty of care owed to the plaintiff. --------- the act of attacking the reputation of some persons. ___________ direct interference with the personal goods or land of another.

Answer key NUISANCE - indirect injuries to a person’s property or his enjoyment of property. NEGLIGENCE - injurious breach of a legal duty of care owed to the plaintiff. DEFAMATION - the act of attacking the reputation of some persons. TRESPASS - direct interference with the personal goods or land of another.

Thank you for your attention!