n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

(Ben Green) #1
.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
rnDaanexerciseontortfawonBusinessSpotlightAudio

DerBegriff"unerlaubteHandlung"klingtharmloser,alserist.
MATTFJRTHklärtSieüberdieHintergründeauf.

TORYS AND TORY LAW


unerlaubteHarldlung,Delikt
Entsch<ldigung.SchaderlelSlltz
Schadenersatz
Velleumdung,übleNachrede
Abschreckurlgsmittel

UnlerlllSSUfII.Versliumrlts

suesb.Lsju:]

civilwrong[,slv·r'roljl
~mpensatlon[,kOl!!p';)lI'ScIJ-nl
damages['dremld.3lZj
defamationr,dcf;)'mcl['n]
detelTt!ntIdi'lcl";)1I1]
dirty 01 careLdjlla!~v'ke~1
~rlgerbeerLd3InU:;;>'bl~l
holdsb.tlableI,h~uld'!aI3b>lj
injunction[m'd.,"l)kJ>n1
iojuresb.['lnd3~1
Ini"'-r'md3~j
lnyerl'b~j~1
nqligencel'ocglld;pos!

fOrtlt~:t]
tortclaim['l~'t);Iclm)

nul~ncel'oju:s'osJ
remedyL'rcm.:ldil
srmilIsol:l-lj
slrictliabilityl,~lrlkl,ral,,'bll~til

torIiouscooducl1,IJ:I;)s'kondAktl
trespass['tresp;)s!

tortleasorL,IJ:I'fi:r.;>l

wroßifuliict[,mgfol'ICkt}
Wl'OßgfuJomission1,[1)9f"l;Rj'nulonj

86 BusinessSpotlight 5/2009

Free download pdf