DATIUS DIDACE(Amicus Curiae) 04/02/20

1 LAW OF TORT

INTRODUCTION TO LAW OF TORT • What is tort?

TORT OF NEGLIGENCE Tort means “wrong” in French.

ENGEEENERED

BY ❑Law of tort is one of the methods by which

DATIUS DIDACE. people who have suffered from injuries
Contacts: could use to claim for compensation.
Email: datiuced115@gmail.com

Phone: 0685563704

Visit: https://mzumbeuniversity.academia.edu/Datius_Didace
 DATIUS DIDACE(Amicus Curiae) 04/02/20

CONTRACT VS.TORT
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• CONTRACT
• An agreement between two or more
persons which can be enforced by law.
• Need to have a contract before one can
take legal action based on contractual
obligations.
• TORT
• A method which people who have suffered
from injuries claim compensation.
• There is no need for an agreement
to claim for compensation. The parties could
be total strangers.
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3 EXAMPLE

• CONTRACT
✓ Can the injured man sue the car driver based on
contract?
No. There is no contract between the
injured man and the driver.
✓ How can the injured man get compensation for
his injury?
By law of tort. There is no need for a contract to
exist between the injured man and the driver. The
injured man and driver could be strangers and still
be able to claim for compensation
 DATIUS DIDACE(Amicus Curiae) 04/02/20

4 EXAMPLE, - TORT

➢ There are many types of tort. • TORT

➢ In business, tort of negligence is the most common. ➢ A pedestrian was hit by a car when walking when the “green man” was
flashing. The driver was found to be using a handphone when
➢ What is negligence?
driving.

Negligence” means “careless”. Was the driver careless.?

Yes. He was careless as he was using his phone (doing something)and

➢ Tort of negligence:
careless for not stopping the car (not doing something).

- Careless when doing something and

- careless for not doing something.

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You opened a bottle of soft drink. After drinking, you realised • TORT OF NEGLIGENCE
there is a dead snail in the bottle.

Was the soft drink factory careless? • How do we determine whether there is
Yes. It was careless as it did not check the bottle before selling tort of negligence?
(not doing something).
It must fulfill 3 elements:-
• Duty of care
• Breach of duty Tort of negligence
• Resulting damage
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6 Tort of Negligence

▪ In simple English, the 3 elements means:-

Are you supposed
to be careful?

Are you careful? Evidence of

carelessness

Did the careless

caused the injury
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DUTY OF CARE

What is Duty of Care? • What is duty of care?

Love your neighbours: “Do not do to others that

The duty imposed upon a person to
which we do not want them to do to us.“
take reasonable care for his acts and
omissions as the acts and omissions would
affect his neighbours.
Comes from the principle: Love your
neighbours.
 DATIUS DIDACE(Amicus Curiae) 04/02/20

How Do We Know If There Is A Duty Of

o Factual Foreseeability:-
Care?
➢ Is it reasonable to be able to foresee
Factual that one’s careless action would
foreseeability
cause his neighbour to suffer?
Proximity

Public policy
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Proximity:- • Public policy:-

What is the closeness and directness of Is it reasonable to impose such a duty of
the relationship between the parties. care so as not to cause injury to others?
Example: Physical closeness (space and
time).
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BREACH OF DUTY
✓ What is breach of duty?
✓ A breach of duty means a person did not
fulfill his responsibility. In other words, he
may have done something wrong or
done something that he should not have
done at all.
✓ Breach of duty occurs when a person is
not careful.
04/02/20
❖How to you know if a person is careful?
❖Carefulness is determined by comparing
the defendant’s action against another
person who has the same skill set. In
short, we are determining “standard of
care”.
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❑How to you know if a person is
careful?
❖Carefulness is determined by comparing the
defendant’s action against another person
who has the same skill set. In short, we are
determining “standard of care”.
04/02/20
❑Example
➢ Was there a breach of duty if a doctor
could not diagnose a illness?
➢ The question is whether another doctor
would be able to diagnose the illness.
➢ The court will compare the doctor’s
skills with another doctor’s and not a
non-doctor.
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What are the other factors which affect “standard of care”?

▪ If the likelihood of injury is high, then a higher standard of care is expected. If the
injury is serious,
▪ Then a higher standard of care is expected.
▪ If the cost of avoiding the injury is low, then a higher the standard of care is expected.
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• Resulting Damage ❑ Even though the parties have no

❑ What is resulting damage?
It must be proven that it is the defendant’s
carelessness that caused the injury. Not any other event.
contractual relationship, the injured party
can still sue based on law of tort.
❑This means that one has to act reasonably
and not cause harm to our neighbours.
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LEARNING POINTS

Tort of negligence must fulfill 3 elements:-

Duty of care
Prepared By:

Datius Didace
Tort of LLB-Mzumbe University
Breach of duty
negligence
datiuced115@gmail.com

Resulting
damage