BUS-294 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Contributory Negligence, Partial Defence, Nervous Shock In English Law
Document Summary
Once you have shown causation in fact you must show causation in law. You need to show the damage is not too remote, it is the kind of harm we can call the defendant responsible for as a result of the defendants negligence. Re polemis (1921) - a defendant is liable for all direct consequences of their actions. The wagon mound (1961) an oil spill on water in a dockyard ignited and caused damage to a number of boats. The chain of events was rather direct lending to the damages. However the court said a direct consequence was not enough stating that the event would have to be foreseeable. The oil damaging boats was foreseeable however the fire was not foreseeable and was a freak accident. So the defendant was not held liable for the damage. There are three stages to the tort of negligence. The onus of proof for the tort of negligence lies upon the claimant.