Law of Torts
Law of Torts
Law of Torts
B – FIRST YEAR
A tort arises due to a person’s duty to others which is created by one law or the other. A
person who commits a tort is known as a tortfeaser, or a wrongdoer. Where they are
more than one, they are called joint tortfeaser. Their wrongdoing is called tortuous
act and they are liable to be sued jointly and severally.
The principle aim of the Law of tort is compensation for victims or their
dependants. Grants of exemplary damages in certain cases will show that
deterrence of wrong doers is also another aim of the law of tort.
It has been argued that the development of law of tort in India need not be on the same
lines as in England.
Scope of Tort
Tort & Contract
1. In a contract, the parties fix the duties themselves whereas in torts, the law fixes
the duty.
2. A contract stipulates that only the parties to the contract can sue and be sued on
it (privity of contract) while in tort, privity is not needed in order to sue or be sued.
3. In the case of contract, the duty is owed to a definite person(s) while in tort, the
duty is owed to the community at large i.e. duty in- rem.
4. In contract remedy may be in the form of liquidated or unliquidated damages
whereas in tort, remedies are always unliquidated.
Constituents of Tort
The law of tort is an instrument to enforce reasonable behavior and respect the rights
and interests of one another. A protected interest gives rise to a legal right, which in turn
gives rise to a corresponding legal duty. An act, which infringes a legal right, is wrongful
act but not every wrongful act is a tort.
The wrongful act or omission may however not necessarily cause actual damage to the
plaintiff in order to be actionable. Certain civil wrongs are actionable even though no
damage may have been suffered by the plaintiff.
An act, which at first, appears to be innocent may become tortuous if it invades the legal
right of another person e.g. the erection in one’s own land which obstructs light to a
neighbors’ house. Liability for a tort arises when the wrongful act amounts to an
infringement of a legal right or a breach.
02. Damage
It means violating of a legal right without causing any harm, loss or damage to the
plaintiff. There are two kinds of torts: firstly those torts which are actionable per se, i.e.
actionable without the proof of any damage or loss. For instance, trespass to land, is
actionable even though no damage has been caused as a result of the trespass.
Secondly, the torts which are actionable only on the proof of some damage caused by
an act. For successful actions the only thing which has to be proved is that the plaintiff’s
legal right has been violated, i.e. there is injuria.
Case Law: Refusal to register a voter was held as and injury per-se even when the
favorite candidate won the election – Ashby Vs. White (1703). This rule is based on the
old maxim of law, Ubi jus ibi remedium, which means that where there is a right, there is
a remedy.
It means “There may be an injury inflicted without any act of injustice.” There is another
term like it that is “damnum absque injuria“, which means damage or harm without an
injury in the legal sense. In other words a loss or injury to someone which does not give
that person a right to sue the person causing the loss.
Case Laws:
In the case of Mayor & Bradford Corporation Vs. Pickles (1895), Pickles was
annoyed by the refusal of Bradford Corporation to purchase his land for their water
undertaking. Out of spite, he sank a shaft on his land, which had the effect of discoloring
and diminishing the water of the Corporation, which percolated through his land. The
House of Lords held that the action of Pickles was lawful and no matter how ill his motive
might be he had a right to act on his land in any manner that so pleases him.
In the case of Mogul Steamship Co. Vs. Me-Gregory (1892). Certain ship owners
combined together. In order to drive a ship-owner out of trade by offering cheap freight
charges to customers who would deal with them. The plaintiff who was driven out of
business sued the ship-owner, for loss caused to him by their act. The court held that a
trader who is ruined by legitimate competition of his rivals could not get damages in tort.
The law of torts is said to be a development of the maxim ubi jus ibi remedium (there is
no wrong without a remedy). Whenever the common law gives a right or prohibits an
injury, it also gives a remedy. It is an elementary maxim of equity jurisprudence that
there is no wrong without a remedy.
The maxim means only that legal wrong and legal remedy are correlative terms.
A tort is a civil injury, but all civil injuries are not torts. The wrongful act must come under
the category of wrongs for which the remedy is a civil action for damages. The essential
remedy for a tort is an action for damages, but there are other remedies also e.g.,
injunction, restitution, etc.
Case Law:
In the case of Abbot v. Sullivan, the court held that there is a right to receive a time-
barred debt but there is no remedy to recover it.
Case Law:
Rougher, J., described in the case of John Munroe (Acrylics) Ltd. v. London Fire and
Civil Defence Authority, “It is truism to say that we live in the age of compensation.
There seems to be a growing belief that every misforture must, in pecuniary terms at any
rate, be laid at someone else’s door, and after every mishap, the cupped palms are
outstretched for the solace of monetary compensation.”
Failure to do something in doing an act is a bad way of performing the act. For example,
if a lawyer gives an opinion without taking notice of the change in law brought about by a
reported decision of the Supreme Court, he would not be guilty of an omission but of
performing the act of giving his opinion in a bad way.
Where as an omission is failure to do an act as a whole. Generally, the law does not
impose liability for mere omissions. An omission incures liability when there is a duty to
act. For example, a person cannot be held responsible for the omission of not rescuing a
stranger child whom he sees drowning even though he can rescue him without any
appreciable exertion or risk of harm to himself. But the result would be different if a
parent or guardian is failed to attempt to rescue the child. In that case, it would be an
omission as there is a duty to act.
An involuntary act does not give rise to any liability. For example, an involuntary act of
trespass is not a tort.
In the case of Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation, the Supreme Court held
that the encroachments committed by those persons are involuntary acts in the sense
that those acts are compelled by inevitable circumstances and are not guided by choice.
Mental elements
A voluntary act can be held in strict liability if there’s a presence of required mental
element i.e., malice, intention, negligence or motive in addition to the other necessary
ingredients of the torts are present.
Malice with an intention of wrongful act is called as Malice in Law. It is also called
as implied malice. In a legal sense, malice means a wrongful act, done intentionally,
without just cause or excuse. For example, if a person give a perfect stranger a blow
likely to produce death, the person do it out of malice because, he do it intentionally and
without just cause or excuse.
Malice with an improper motive is called as Malice in fact. It is also called as express
malice. Malice in fact is liable for malicious prosecution.
Defamation
Malicious prosecution
Willful and malicious damage to property
In general terms, negligence is “the failure to use ordinary care” through either an act or
omission. That is, negligence occurs when:
somebody does not exercise the amount of care that a reasonably careful person
would use under the circumstances; or
somebody does something that a reasonably careful person would not do under
the circumstances.
In the case of Dulieu Vs. White & Sons (1901), the plaintiff, a pregnant woman, was
sitting behind the counter of her husband?s bar when suddenly a horse was driven into
the bar. Fearing her personal safety, she suffered nervous shock and gave birth to a
premature baby. In the circumstances, the court held that the plaintiff was entitled to
recover in negligence.
Recklessness is also called as gross negligence. Gross negligence means conduct or a
failure to act that is so reckless that it demonstrates a substantial lack of concern for
whether an injury will result. It is sometimes necessary to establish “gross negligence” as
opposed to “ordinary negligence” in order to overcome a legal impediment to a lawsuit.
For example, a government employee who is on the job may be immune from liability for
ordinary negligence, but may remain liable for gross negligence.
O MOTIVE
Motive is the ulterior object or purpose of doing an act. It differs from intention in two
ways. First, intention relates to the immediate objective of an act, whereas, motive refers
to the ulterior objective. Secondly, motive refers to some personal benefit of satisfaction
which the actor desires whereas intention need not be so.
For example, When A poisons B, the immediate objective is to kill B and so this is A’s
intention. The ulterior objective of A may be to secure B’s estate by inheritance or under
a will executed by him and this objective will be A’s motive. Motive is generally irrelevant
in tort.
In the case of Mayor & Co. of Bradford v. Pickles, A sank a well on his land and
thereby cut off underground water-supply from his neighbour B, and B’s well was dried
up. It was not unlawful for a land-owner to intercept on his own land underground
percolating water and prevent it from reaching the land of his neighbour. The act did not
become unlawful even though A’s motive in so doing was to coerce B to buy his land at
his own price. A, therefore, was not liable to B, however improper and malicious his
motive might be.
The term “Misfeasance” is applicable to improper performance of some lawful act for
example when there is negligence.
The term “non-feasance” applies to the omission to perform some act when there is an
obligation to perform it. Non-feasance of gratuious undertaking does not impose liability,
but misfeasance does.
O FAULT
If mental elements such as intention, negligence, malice or motive together with an act
or omission which is violative of a right recognized by law plays an important role in
creating liability. Such tortious liability has an element of fault to support it. But there is a
sphere of tortious liability which is known as absolute or strict liability, where the element
of fault is conspicuously absent.
In the case of M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, the rule of strict liability is laid down that an
enterprise engaged in a hazardous or inherently dangerous activity is strictly and
absolutely liable for the harm resulting from the operation of such activity.
Internship scheduled for a law student according to me for 5 years course are:-
1.J.N Pandey
2. Narendra Kumar
3. M.P Jain
4. H.M. seervai
Book
Subject Name of the Book Author
Price
Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code Paperback Ratanlal Rs.900
Indian Evidence Act Textbook on the Indian evidence Act K D Gaur Rs. 598
Arbitration and Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 Lawmann's Rs. 100
Conciliation Act
R.V.
Criminal Procedure R. V. Kelkar's Criminal Procedure Rs. 625
Kelkar's
Name of the
Name of the Book Description Price
Author
Name of
Name of the Book Description Price
the Author
Name of the
Name of the Book Description Price
Author
The Transfer of Property This book explains all the important provisions Rs.
Rk Sinha
Act Paperback of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. 299
The Transfer of Property This book covers all the concepts of the
Government of Rs.
Act 1882 Bare Act with Transfer of Property Act 1882 Bare Act with
India 60
Amendments Amendments.
The Key to Indian Practice Sir Dinshaw Fardunji Mulla Rs. 465
The Indian Contract Act 1872 Bare Act Government of India Rs. 60
Outlines of Mohammedan Law Aqil Ahmad, Sir Dinshaw Fardunji Mulla Rs. 620
Mulla’s Principles of Mohammedan Law Sir Dinshaw Fardunji Mulla Rs. 1094
The Specific Relief Act, Bare Act Government of india, Lexis Rs. 65
Customary Law
Law of Probation
U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act (as applicable in Uttarakhand)
The Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1951,
Uttar Pradesh Urban Buildings (Regulation of Letting, Rent, and Eviction) Act 1972.
aforesaid Acts.