In this important book, Elspeth Reid presents an exhaustive, integrated treatment of the law of Delict in Scotland.The volume covers negligence, injuries to specific interests (such as defamation and assault), statutory liability, and defences and remedies. Alongside its focus upon the Scots sources, where appropriate it also gives full consideration to case law and commentary from other jurisdictions, especially England and Wales.

The scope and application of the rules of civil jurisdiction is of immense practical importance in the conduct of transnational tort cases. Frequently such rules can dictate whether the plaintiff has an effective remedy or not and the shape of the ensuing litigation. The incidence of transborder harms is on the increase: transboundary pollution (for example, fall-out from Chernobyl, the determination of proper forum for litigation of the Bhopal); the rise in complex international fraud (Guiness, Ferranti, BCCI); the increase in scope for product liability and intellectual property litigation in international commerce; and transnational personal injury cases arising from the increased flow of persons across national borders. These practical problems give rise to difficult legal issues, which existing domestic rules of jurisdiction may be ill-equipped to resolve. In this collection of original articles, a leading team of contributors assess existing legal provisions and examine the prospects for reform. The book is intended for all private international lawyers, and specialists in international commercial litigation, torts lawyers and lawyers interested in international environmental

This book is a second edition of Interpretation of Contracts (2007). The original work examined various issues surrounding the question of how contracts should be interpreted by courts, in particular focusing on the law of contract interpretation following Lord Hoffmann's exposition of the principles of contextual interpretation in Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society [1998] 1 WLR 896. As with the original, this new edition provides an overview of the subject, concentrating on elements of controversy and disagreement, rather than a detailed analysis of all the contract law rules and doctrines that might be regarded as interpretative in one sense or another. The book will be concerned with interpretation of contracts generally (following the rule that there are not different rules of interpretation for different kinds of contracts), but with reference to commercial contracts in particular, since this is the area in which the contextual interpretative approach was developed, and where it has most relevance. The overall aim of the second edition remains the same as the first - to produce an accessible and readable guide to contract interpretation for law students, scholars and practitioners.

Principles and Practices of Aquatic Law presents the best practices and principles related to aquatic law and risk management. Its focus is injury and death occurring in aquatic environments including the ocean, pools, water parks, canals, rivers, lakes, dams, etc. It discusses the importance of aquatic risk management as it relates to aquatic accident prevention and the concept of duty and liability for a facility's management and staff. It also presents updated and relevant information about beach safety and the importance of hazard identification, warning, and elimination, and provides information for attorneys relating to the process of developing liability theories involving serious aquatic accidents and death. Features Presents a comprehensive resource on the applied practices and principles of aquatic law. Provides information for attorneys for the process of developing liability theories involving serious aquatic accidents and death. Presents updated and relevant information about beach safety and the importance of hazard identification, warning, and elimination. Discusses water-borne contaminants such as cryptosporidium and flesh-eating bacteria. Presents comprehensive public safety and beach management strategies: rip current prediction and monitoring, coastal engineering, drowning and rescue statistics, etc.

Over the past two decades, the United States has seen a dramatic increase in the number and magnitude of punitive damages verdicts rendered by juries in civil trials. Probably the most extraordinary example is the July 2000 award of $144.8 billion in the Florida class action lawsuit brought against the cigarette manufacturers. More puzzling were two recent verdicts against the auto manufacturer BMW in Alabama. In identical cases, argued in the same court before the same judge, one jury awarded $4 million in punitive damages, while the other awarded no punitive damages at all. In cases involving accidents, civil rights and the environment, multimillion dollar punitive awards have been a subject of intense controversy. But how do juries actually make decisions about punitive damages? To find out, the authors - specialists in psychology, economics and the law - present the results of controlled experiments with over 600 mock juries involving the responses of more than 8,000 jury-eligible citizens. They find that although juries tended to agree in their moral judgements about the defendant's conduct, they rendered erratic and unpredictable dollar awards. Jurors also tended to ignore instructions from the judges; showed "hindsight bias", believing that what happened should have been foreseen; and penalized corporations that had based their decisions on careful cost-benefit analyses. While judges made many of the same errors, they performed better in some areas, suggesting that judges (or other specialists) may be better equipped than juries to decide punitive damages. With a wealth of new data and a host of provocative findings, this book documents a wide range of systematic bias in jury behaviour and should be valuable for anyone interested in punitive damages, jury behaviour, human psychology and the theory of punishment.

Deliktereg in Suid-Afrika is n ryke bron wat n lewendige en toeganklike inleiding tot die beginsels van die deliktereg bied. Deur die gemeenregtelike, statutere en grondwetlike komponente van die deliktereg saam te snoer, verskaf hierdie werk alle noodsaaklike gegewens binne die bestek van een, omvattende bron. Dit is op die leergang van die voorgraadse LLB-kursus toegespits, om as n deeglike en leersame oorsig van al die belangrike onderwerpe van hierdie dissipline te dien. Die samestelling van die boek weerspieel die logiese en sistematiese proses wat gevolg moet word wanneer mens n deliktuele aangeleentheid moet oorweeg, of daarvoor moet voorberei. Dit onderskei duidelik tussen die grondliggende aksies wat hierdie dissipline ten grondslag le, te wete die actio legis Aquiliae, die Germaansregtelike aksie en die actio iniuriarum. Deliktereg in Suid-Afrika het verskeie eienskappe wat daarop gemik is om n onafhanklike, kritiese en denkende omgang met die vakge bied te bevorder, waardeur die waarde daarvan as studentehandboek verhoog word. Die boek is ook n nuttige bron vir regspraktisyns wat opheldering verlang oor nuwe ontwikkelinge binne, of wesenlike beginsels van, die deliktereg.

Tort law, a fundamental building block of every legal system, features prominently in mass culture and political debates. As this pioneering anthology reveals, tort law is not simply a collection of legal rules and procedures, but a set of cultural responses to the broader problems of risk, injury, assignment of responsibility, compensation, valuation, and obligation.
Examining tort law as a cultural phenomenon and a form of cultural practice, this work makes explicit comparisons of tort law across space and time, looking at the United States, Europe, and Asia in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. It draws on theories and methods from law, sociology, political science, and anthropology to offer a truly interdisciplinary, pathbreaking view. Ultimately, tort law, the authors show, nests within a larger web of relationships and shared discursive conventions that organize social life.

Since the financial crisis, one of the key priorities of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has been individual accountability. This book addresses the regulatory and employment law challenges that arise from the FCA's and PRA's requirements. The expert team of writers examine in depth the provisions of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 which relate to individuals, and the associated requirements of the PRA and FCA. The topics addressed include: The Senior Manager, Certification and Approved Person Regimes Regulatory references and whistleblowing Disciplinary investigations, enforcement and sanctions Notifications, 'Form C', and fitness & propriety Bonus disputes and the Remuneration Code Conduct and Pay in the Financial Services Industry considers the full extent of an individual's employment, from pre-contractual discussions to the post-termination clawback of remuneration. It is a vital reference for lawyers and human resources professionals working within the financial services industry, both in-house and in private practice. It will also be of interest to all academics, regulators and policy-makers involved in this sector.

This book provides fair and acceptable solutions to hardship issues in long-term relational supply contracts. This book uses an approach to strike a balance between the traditional approach underlying classical contract law which emphasises the almost absolute prevalence of the principle of pacta sunt servanda and a flexible approach that is based on the principle of clausula rebus sic stantibus. This book argues for an emerging principle of pacta sunt servanda bona fide on the basis of the relational contract theory. Additionally, this book demonstrates how good faith can serve as a foundation for imposing a duty to renegotiate on the parties. The aim of this book is rather to propose how relational contract theory can be applied to the analysis of specific legal rules in general. Lastly, this boos highlights how the duty to renegotiate and the power to adapt a contract can be further developed upon the occurrence of hardship, based on good faith and the relational nature and characteristics of a long-term relational supply contract. This book explores and enriches the existing research on relational contract theory concentrates primarily on its application in domestic contract laws, particularly in the regulation of long-term contracts in American contract law. As an outcome this book provides a more feasible and satisfactory approach for courts or arbitral tribunals to undertake when facing hardship issues in international contract disputes. Overall, hardship themes, long-term relational supply contracts and good faith are examined extensively.

The law of torts is concerned with what we owe to one another in the way of obligations not to interfere with, or impair, each other's urgent interests as we go about our lives in civil society. The most influential contemporary account of tort law treats tort liability rules as shadow prices. Their role is not to vindicate claimants' own rights and interests, but to induce us to injure one another only when it is economically efficient to do so. The chief competitors to the economic view take tort law's importance to lie primarily in the duties of repair that it imposes on wrongdoers, or in the powers of recourse that it confers on the victims of tortious wrongs. This book argues that tort law's primary obligations address a domain of basic justice and that its rhetoric of reasonableness implies a distinctive morality of mutual right and responsibility. Modern tort law is preoccupied with, and responds to, the special moral significance of harm. That special significance sometimes justifies standards of precaution more stringent than those prescribed by efficiency. This book also examines the regulatory and administrative institutions with which the common law of torts cooperates and competes, treating these as part of a continuum of institutions that instantiate the primary role pursued by modern tort law - that is, to protect our physical integrity and other essential interests from impairment and interference by others, and to do so terms that all those affected might accept as justifiable.

Now updated with everything you need to know about the Scots Law of Delict. Recognising the multi-faceted nature of the Scots law of delict, this new edition provides a truly comprehensive guide to the law. With numerous case studies and clear illustration of key concepts, this is essential reading for all students encountering delict for the first time as well as practitioners who require a ready reference for their practice.

Civil wrongs occupy a significant place in private law. They are particularly prominent in tort law, but equally have a place in contract law, property and intellectual property law, unjust enrichment, fiduciary law, and in equity more broadly. Civil wrongs are also a preoccupation of leading general theories of private law, including corrective justice and civil recourse theories. According to these and other theories, the centrality of civil wrongs to civil liability shows that private law is fundamentally concerned with the expression and enforcement of norms of justice appropriate to interpersonal interaction and association. Others, sounding notes of caution or criticism, argue that a preoccupation with wrongs and remedies has meant neglect of other ways in which private law serves justice, and ways in which private law serves values other than justice. This volume comprises original papers written by a wide variety of legal theorists and philosophers exploring the nature of civil wrongs, their place in private law, and their relationship to other forms of wrongdoing.

The contemporary landscape of transnational political economy is dominated by networks. Public and private networks, and networks that combine public and private actors, cross borders, exert regulatory power and their activities often harm third parties. However, tort law as a traditional source of remediation for third party harms appears impotent when faced with the problem of regulating the 'society of networks'. This book, using a systems theory framework, retraces the emergence of tort law in modernity and highlights how two models of normative ascription - personal responsibility and organizational liability - have come to shape existing tort law's ambivalence towards network phenomena. This book breaks new ground by leaving behind the national law 'frame of reference', drawing on the conceptual promise of EU law to develop a concept of 'network responsibility' for a network society and lays the foundations of a tort law for the 21st century.

The imposition of strict liability in tort law is controversial, and its theoretical foundations are the object of vigorous debate. Why do or should we impose strict liability on employers for the torts committed by their employees, or on a person for the harm caused by their children, animals, activities, or things? In responding to this type of questions, legal actors rely on a wide variety of justifications. Justifying Strict Liability explores, in a comparative perspective, the most significant arguments that are put forward to justify the imposition of strict liability in four legal systems, two common law, England and the United States, and two civil law, France and Italy. These justifications include: risk, accident avoidance, the 'deep pockets' argument, loss-spreading, victim protection, reduction in administrative costs, and individual responsibility. By looking at how these arguments are used across the four legal systems, this book considers a variety of patterns which characterise the reasoning on strict liability. The book also assesses the justificatory weight of the arguments, showing that these can assume varying significance in the four jurisdictions and that such variations reflect different views as to the values and goals which inspire strict liability and tort law more generally. Overall, the book seeks to improve our understanding of strict liability, to shed light on the justifications for its imposition, and to enhance our understanding of the different tort cultures featuring in the four legal systems studied.

Maimonides lived in Spain and Egypt in the twelfth century, and is perhaps the most widely studied figure in Jewish history. This book presents, for the first time, Maimonides' complete tort theory and how it compares with other tort theories both in the Jewish world and beyond. Drawing on sources old and new as well as religious and secular, Maimonides and Contemporary Tort Theory offers fresh interdisciplinary perspectives on important moral, consequentialist, economic, and religious issues that will be of interest to both religious and secular scholars. The authors mention several surprising points of similarity between certain elements of theories recently formulated by North American scholars and the Maimonidean theory. Alongside these similarities significant differences are also highlighted, some of them deriving from conceptual-jurisprudential differences and some from the difference between religious law and secular-liberal law.

'How much for my leg?' This is an apparently simple question that someone might ask their lawyer after sustaining a wrongful injury to the said limb. But, in Scotland, no fixed answer can be given. Nor can any official range of possible figures be given. Only after some serious professional work, perhaps taking many hours, can a range of figures be suggested. This study of the assessment of non-pecuniary damages for personal injury reviews the state of current approaches in Scotland, considers the conclusions of the Gill Report and compares differing approaches in jurisdictions worldwide, before presenting possible options for reform.

This collection of essays represents a ground-breaking collaboration between moral philosophers, action theorists, lawyers and legal theorists to set a fresh research agenda on agency and responsibility in negligence. The complex phenomenon of responsibility in negligence is analysed from multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives, shedding light on key ethical and legal issues related to agency and negligence to impact substantive law and policy-making in different jurisdictions. The volume introduces new debates and questions old assumptions, inviting the reader to rethink substantive law and practical ethical reflection.

Over the past 50 years, the United States experienced three major medical malpractice (med mal) crises, each marked by dramatic increases in the cost of malpractice liability insurance. These crises fostered a vigorous politicized debate about the causes of the premium spikes, and the impact on access to care and defensive medicine. State legislatures responded to the premium spikes by enacting damages caps on non-economic, punitive, or total damages and Congress has periodically debated the merits of a federal cap on damages. However, the intense political debate has been marked by a shortage of evidence, as well as misstatements and overclaiming. The public is confused about answers to some basic questions. What caused the premium spikes? What effect did tort reform actually have? Did tort reform reduce frivolous litigation? Did tort reform actually improve access to health care or reduce defensive medicine? Both sides in the debate have strong opinions about these matters, but their positions are mostly talking points or are based on anecdotes. This book provides factual answers to these and other questions about the performance of the med mal system. The authors, all experts in the field and from across the political spectrum, provide an accessible, fact-based response to the questions ordinary Americans and policymakers have about the performance of the med mal litigation system.

By rewriting both canonical and lesser-known tort cases from a feminist perspective, this volume exposes gender and racial bias in how courts have categorized and evaluated harm stemming from pre-natal malpractice, pregnancy loss, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, invasion of privacy, and the award of economic and non-economic damages. The rewritten opinions demonstrate that when confronted with gendered harm to women, courts have often distorted or misapplied conventional legal doctrine to diminish the harm or deny recovery. Bringing this implicit bias to the surface can make law students, and lawyers and judges who craft arguments and apply tort doctrines, more aware of inequalities of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation or identity. This volume shows the way forward to make the basic doctrines of tort law more responsive to the needs and perspectives of traditionally marginalized people, in ways that give greater value to harms that they disproportionately experience.

By rewriting both canonical and lesser-known tort cases from a feminist perspective, this volume exposes gender and racial bias in how courts have categorized and evaluated harm stemming from pre-natal malpractice, pregnancy loss, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, invasion of privacy, and the award of economic and non-economic damages. The rewritten opinions demonstrate that when confronted with gendered harm to women, courts have often distorted or misapplied conventional legal doctrine to diminish the harm or deny recovery. Bringing this implicit bias to the surface can make law students, and lawyers and judges who craft arguments and apply tort doctrines, more aware of inequalities of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation or identity. This volume shows the way forward to make the basic doctrines of tort law more responsive to the needs and perspectives of traditionally marginalized people, in ways that give greater value to harms that they disproportionately experience.

Written by leading academics, this exciting new student-focused textbook offers readers a comprehensive understanding of Tort Law and enables them to become confident critical thinkers. Accessible and thought-provoking, Tort Law combines clear explanations of core legal principles and recent legal developments with lively discussions of key academic perspectives. Extended problem questions, flowcharts and relatable examples help students to understand how law works in a practical context and prepares them for success in assignments and exams. Engaging pedagogical boxes, such as 'Viewpoint' and 'Making Connections', encourage students to develop their own critical thinking practice and appreciate how Tort Law interacts with other areas of the core law curriculum. Comprehensive and student-friendly with engaging visual features, Tort Law is an essential companion for all undergraduate Tort Law modules, for students of all abilities. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/tort-law. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.

This book addresses some of the most difficult and important debates over injury and law now taking place in societies around the world. The essays tackle the inescapable experience of injury and its implications for social inequality in different cultural settings. Topics include the tension between physical and reputational injuries, the construction of human injuries versus injuries to non-human life, virtual injuries, the normalization and infliction of injuries on vulnerable victims, the question of reparations for slavery, and the paradoxical degradation of victims through legal actions meant to compensate them for their disabilities. Authors include social theorists, social scientists and legal scholars, and the subject matter extends to the Middle East and Asia, as well as North America.

Medical Negligence provides a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the potential legal liabilities of healthcare professionals and hospitals arising out of the provision of healthcare. The principal focus is on the law of negligence as it applies in the medical context, but the book also includes extensive coverage of consent to medical treatment, defective products, confidentiality, the liability of hospitals, defences and limitation, the principles applied to the assessment damages, and procedural issues. The new edition is a comprehensive statement of the law of medical negligence in England and Wales, with appropriate reference to Commonwealth jurisdictions. Fully up to date, including discussion of relevant statutory provisions and Commonwealth case law such as Barclays Bank Plc v Various Claimants (2020) from the UK Supreme Court; Schembri v Marshall (2020) from the Court of Appeal and Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust (2020) from other Courts to name a few Detailed discussion of developing caselaw on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Discussion of the emerging tort of misuse of private information Full reference to relevant professional guidance issued by the General Medical Council (Decision making and consent, 2020) Includes Appendices on NHS Indemnity, Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes and Glossary of Medical Terms Key Features: Provides thorough analysis of the tort of negligence as it applies to the provision of health care Discusses the liability of doctors as well as dentists, nurses and pharmacists Covers the general principles of medical negligence and covers specific areas such as consent to medical treatment, defective products, confidentiality and the liability of hospitals Covers emerging issues related to medical negligence practice, access to treatment, patient autonomy and complaints Provides thorough coverage defences and limitation Explains the general principles as they apply to medical negligence Expands on the general principles by applying them to specific areas such as consent and confidentiality Analyses current case law and interprets applicable legislation Offers clear, concise analysis applicable to generalist and specialist practitioners

Mass-tort lawsuits over products like pelvic and hernia mesh, Roundup, opioids, talcum powder, and hip implants consume a substantial part of the federal civil caseload. But multidistrict litigation, which federal courts use to package these individual tort suits into one proceeding, has not been extensively analyzed. In Mass Tort Deals, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch marshals a wide array of empirical data to suggest that a systematic lack of checks and balances in our courts may benefit everyone but the plaintiffs - the very people who are often unable to stand up for themselves. Rather than faithfully representing them, plaintiffs' lawyers may sell them out in backroom settlements that compensate lawyers handsomely, pay plaintiffs little, and deny them the justice they seek. From diagnosis to reforms, Burch's goal isn't to eliminate these suits; it's to save them. This book is a must read for concerned citizens, policymakers, lawyers, and judges alike.

Mass-tort lawsuits over products like pelvic and hernia mesh, Roundup, opioids, talcum powder, and hip implants consume a substantial part of the federal civil caseload. But multidistrict litigation, which federal courts use to package these individual tort suits into one proceeding, has not been extensively analyzed. In Mass Tort Deals, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch marshals a wide array of empirical data to suggest that a systematic lack of checks and balances in our courts may benefit everyone but the plaintiffs - the very people who are often unable to stand up for themselves. Rather than faithfully representing them, plaintiffs' lawyers may sell them out in backroom settlements that compensate lawyers handsomely, pay plaintiffs little, and deny them the justice they seek. From diagnosis to reforms, Burch's goal isn't to eliminate these suits; it's to save them. This book is a must read for concerned citizens, policymakers, lawyers, and judges alike.