The law of tort

The law of tort is concerned with providing remedies for individuals who have suffered some harm or loss as a consequence of another s wrongful act. The three separate branches of the law of tort are trespass, nuisance and negligence. Personal injury claims for compensation are based on negligence. 

This is the oldest branch of fhe law of tort. An action for trespass is nowadays generally confined to fhe intentional invasion of a man s person, land or goods involving, for example, such civil claims for damages as those resulting from battery, assault, false imprisonment, unlawful entry onto the land of another. In the latter case, apart from legal action, direct 

There are two forms, private nuisance or public nuisance. An action for private nuisance lies only where there has been interference with tire enjoyment of land and is appropriate where an occupier of land has acted in such a way as to harm his neighbour s enjo5mient of his land. It need not be a deliberate interference and includes such cases as the emission of smoke, fumes or excessive noise. The interference must be sufficiently significant and must be unreasonable. In deciding if it is, the comt will take into account all circumstances including the reason for the alleged nuisance, the locality (e.g. whether rural or industrial), the ordinary use of the land and the impracticability of preventing the nuisance. 

Negligence is the legal term to describe carelessness. To bring a claim for damages based on negligence three things have to be established  

1 that there is a duty of care owed by the defendant to the claimant, 

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The liability of an employer to his or her employees in respect of injury arising out of or in the course of their employment usually falls for consideration under either common law (the law of tort) or statute. 

The two main areas of civil law that may affect the pharmaceutical physician are the law of contract and the law of tort. Essentially, a contract is a legally binding agreement between individuals (or other legal entities such as corporations), where one of the parties assumes an obligation or makes a promise to the other. Usually, the parties to... 

In the law of tort, including negligence, liability is fault based. It must be proved that the defendant was at fault in that he/she acted wrongfully and as a result violated a right of the plaintiff, causing harm to him/her. The requirement of fault differentiates a genuine accident from a negligent act for which the injured person can be compensated. 

Product liability law, generally and as it pertains to pharmaceutical companies, is broadly based on legal principles involving contract law, the law of torts and the relevant statutory provisions of the country or jurisdiction where the action is brought (Jones, 1993). However, there are three fundamental legal principles under which a seller of a product can be liable for damages incurred from the use of that product strict liability, warranty and negligence. 

Heuston RFV, Buckley RA. 1992. Salmond Heuston on the Law of Torts, 20th edn. Sweet Maxwell London 310-312. 

A trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device or compilation of information which is used in one s business, and which gives him an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors who do not know or use it. It may be a formula for a chemical compound, a process of manufacturing, treating or preserving materials, a pattern for a machine or other device, or a list of customers. [4 Restatement of the Law of Torts 5 (1937)]... 

Product liability law is broadly based upon legal principles involving contract law, the Law of Torts, and the relevant statutory provisions of the country or jurisdiction where the action is brought (Jones,... 

Prosser, William L. 1955. Handbook of the Law of Torts. Second Edition. St. Paul, MN West. 

S. Banks (2009) Woodley v Metropolitan District Railway Company (1877) in C. Mitchell and P. Mitchell (eds.) Landmark Cases in the Law of Tort (Oxford Hart), pp. 127-152. 

Tort law is defined at the state level by statutes, court decisions, and constitutional provisions it applies to government entities, individual citizens, and businesses. The law of torts protects individual and business interests from harm and provides a means for those harmed by another to seek compensation for their loss. Tort liability claims also provide a basis for distributing losses to those who are responsible for the harm. Tort law thus provides a systematic means for analyzing and resolving liability claims, while protecting both the interests of the person injured and the governmental jurisdiction. Torts encompass a very broad area of the law, including (Oleck, 1982) ... 

England, Scotland and N. Ireland do not have codified legal systems. Nearly all of our law of contract and much of the law of tort or delict is case law. This will gradually change with the production and implementation of Law Commission reports. 

The law of tort covers relationships generally, compared with the law of contract which applies where two or more parties have entered into a specific relationship between themselves for a specific purpose. 

Munkman, J., Employer s Liability at Common Law, 10th edn, Butterworths, London (1985) Heuston, R. F. V. and Chambers, R. S., Salmond on the Law of Torts, 18th edn. Sweet Maxwell, London (1981)... 

In civil law involving personal accidents (the law of tort) strict liability is unusual. A plaintiff must normally prove ifault, in the form of negligent conduct of the defendant, which is assessed objectively. 

Mark A. Ceistfeld, Essentials of Tort Law 7,18-21 (2008) Mark A. Ceistfeld, Principles of Products Liability 9, 14, 20 (2006) William Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts 528 (1941) Mark M. Hager, Civil Compensation and Its Discontents A Response to Huber, 42 Stan. L. Rev. 539 (1990) William J. Maakestad Charles Helm, Promoting Workplace Safety and Health in the Post-Regulatory Era A Primer on Non-OSHA Legal Incentives that Influence Employer Decisions to Control Occupational Hazards, N. Ken. L. Rev. 17 (1989) Wex Malone, Ruminations on the Role of Fault in the History of the Common Law of Torts, 31 La. L. Rev. 1 (1970). 

Dan B. Dobbs, The Law of Torts 1033-34 (2000) James E. Krier Edmund Ursin, Pollution and Policy 11-12 (1977) Vogel, Fluctuating Fortunes, 54. 

As Prosser has stated perhaps more than any other branch of the law, the law of torts is a battleground of social theory .An example in more recent times is the true story of Erin Brockovich, a young woman who successfully launched a toxic torts law suit against a California utility after having discovered Chromium 6 in the well water of a California town. The judgment awarded was 333 million in this... 

Prosser WL (1964) Handbook of the law of Torts, 3rd edn. West Publishing, St. Paul Rayman RB, McNaughten CB (1983) Smoke/fumes in the cockpit. Aviat Space Environ Med 54 738-740... 

Cooley TM (1888) A treatise on the law of torts, 2nd edn. Callaghan, Chicago Cortes WI (2004) Cyber terrorism post 9/11 in the Western Hemisphere. Monograph presented to the Inter American Defence College as a requisite for obtaining the diploma of completion for the course on defence and hemispheric security. Fort Leslie J. McNair, Washington DC, April 2004... 

In order to prevail in a products liability action under a negligence theory, a plaintiff must prove all of the four elements listed and discussed below. Negligence claims are civil actions based on the law of torts. In such actions, the presumption is that the accused party is not liable and the plaintiff has the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence. Preponderance of the evidence is the standard of proof required in ordinary civil actions and refers to proof which leads the finder/trier of fact to find that the existence of the fact is more probable than not. Preponderance of the evidence is a lower standard of proof as compared to the standards of clear and convincing and beyond a reasonable doubt. 

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