ANU College of Law LAWS1203/6103 Torts: Semester 1, 2021

Tutorial Problem 1 (Week 1)

As an introduction to the subject and to your tutor and fellow group members, after breaking you into sub-
groups for discussion, your tutor will facilitate a generalised, introductory class discussion of the following 5
(five) questions:

1. Think of an example of a common activity on a campus where there is risk of a tort (wrongful
interference or injury) occurring. What would the ‘wrong’ in your example comprise?

2. What should the law do about these two situations:

(i) B walks unobserved across A’s private beach before dawn, leaving no lingering mark.
(ii) X is badly injured by Y’s conduct but is now permanently disabled and unaware of his ordeal.

3. Should it make any difference, in terms of legal consequences, if:

(i) B walks across A’s private beach but B believed she was walking on public land?
(ii) Y’s conduct badly injured X but Y had no intention of harming X?

4. What legal duty, if any, do or should I have to rescue you from a fire?

5. In the context of injury to or interference with another, how are ‘excuse’ and ‘explanation’ different?
Where X appears to have wronged Y during an activity, which of the following do you think Torts law
does (or should) recognise as potentially relevant to whether X should be liable overall? Why?
(i) X was inexperienced at the activity
(ii) X was intoxicated at the time
(iii) Y agreed to engage in the activity
(iv) Y did not take reasonable care for his own safety
(v) X was engaging the activity on the instructions of her employer Z

Please have these questions accessible (on your device, or in hard copy) during the tutorial.

Notes

 There is no particular pre-tutorial reading relating to each question, nor are you expected to have any
prior Torts knowledge: these questions are intended to introduce you to some of the broader conceptual
themes in Torts. Just take the questions at face value, and do not worry about what the ‘correct’
technical legal approach / answer is. There will not be time to debate and resolve all questions fully!

 After this week, Tutorial 2 (Week 2) introduces you to the ‘problem question’ format. This involves
analysing a hypothetical factual scenario (a) to identify what Torts issues it may raise and (b) to analyse
and indeed argue about how a court – applying legal principles set out in authoritative decided cases
or in applicable legislation -- might resolve these issues and in which party’s favour.

 The tutorials ‘lag’ by one week (i.e. cover content in the previous week’s lecture/s and reading list).

 From Week 2, preparing for the tutorial will ensure you derive maximum benefit from it. The mid-
semester and the final exam both comprise ‘problem questions’ (i.e. similar to a tutorial problem, but
longer and more complex in terms of issues, actors/parties, etc.). The more you prepare for / participate
in tutorials, the easier assessment will be.

 All tutorial groups consider the same content as each other, even if tutors explore that content in their
own particular way. You should not worry about what other groups are covering in their tutorials: the
Convenor moderates across all groups in content terms.