n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

.lANGUAGELEGALENGlISH

lOI!A!!"

A

!2I1is a cjvilwrangcausedbyanindividualora busi-

ness.Tortlawhastwomainaims.Oneistoofter~

pensatjonforthe1055,damageor.i.nlu..lYthatsomeonehas

sufferedasa resultofsomeoneelse'sbehaviour.Themost

commonmm..edttortortjousconductismoney,reterredto

as"damaies". Tortlawalsoactsasa deterrentandaims

toreducetheharmcausedbymakingthetortfeasocre-

sponsibleforprovidinga remedy.

Anothertypeofremedyisanjnjunction,wherethecourt

ordersa personnottodosomething- forexample,notto

publishanarticleina newspaper.

Atortclajmhasthreemainelements.First,thatthere

wasa wromlfulactorwrongfulomission(failuretoact)by

personA.Second,thatpersonB sufferedloss,damageor

injuryasa result.Third.thatpersonA hadadutytoactin

a certainwaybutdidn't- meaning,hewasatfault.

Tortclaimsaremostoftenmadeunderthegeneraltort

ofnegligence,whereA'scarelessactoromissioncauses

MAnFIRTHteacheslegalEngliShaltheUniversityof

StGallenalldtheHochschuleVaduz,liechtertSteirl.He

issecretaryofIheEuropeanLegalEnglishTeachers'

Association.Cootact:matthewJirthCunisg.ch

ThePaisleySnail

ThePais/eySnailcasefram 1929 ledtothecreationof

thegeneral.tQr1.ofnegligence.MayDonoghue,ashop

assistantfromScotland,becameillwhenshefounda

snailina bottleofgjngerbeerthatshehadbeendrink-

ing,orderedforherbyafriendina cafe.Donoghue

couldnot5l.I..e.thecafeowner,asherIriendhadpaidfor

thedrink.A~suggestedsheIrysuingtheginger-

beermakerfernegligenceinstead.Herlawyersaidthat

DavidStevenson,a sott-drinkmakertromPatsley,owed

adutvcfcaretopeoplewhoconsumedhisproduct.In

1932.intheHouseoflords.thehlghestcivilcourtin

theUK,lordAtkinsaid~g•••therulethatyauare 10

loveyourneighbourbecomes.inlaw,youmuslnot

i.rli.u..reyourneighbour".Atkinsaidproductmakersmust

takereasonablecaretoavoidwrongfulaetsorwrangful

omissionstheycanreasonablyimaginecouldjnjurethe

consumer.Donoghuereceivedt200incompensatjoo

(about€8,400todayl.

EXERCISE:Whogels.ompens.,ion?

harmtoB.othertortsincludedefamatjon,whereBsuf-

fersasa resultofA'sspokenorpublishedlies;trespass,

whereAwrongfullygoesontoB'sland;andnujsance,

whereAdisturbsB'senjoymentanduseofhisland(for

example,byallowingdogsorcatstoruntherefreely).

Incertaincases,suchasbadlymadeproductsthat

causeharmtoconsumers,strjctljabilityisused.This

meansthatIhecompanywhichmadetheproductswillbe

beldliablewhetherornotitisalfault.

Atortisa a)c1vilwrongItrespassIremedythatcan

leadtoaclaimforcompensation.Asweilasmoney,

someonewhois sufferingframanotherperson'swrong-

fulbehaviourmaysueforanb)InjunctionIomissionI

interference.Ifatortfeasorisfoundtohaveneglected

hisc)deterrentIdutyofcareIdamages,theclaim

willbesuccessful.Ind)strict-liabflityInuisanceI

faulttortcases,thetortfeasorwillbehelde)defective

IliableI Iitigated- 00 matterwhoisatfault.

Answers 00 page 87

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86 BusinessSpotlight 5/2009