What is professional negligence? What are the obligations of construction professionals in contract and in tort? In what circumstances might the difference between the obligations be important? These questions are of crucial importance not only to construction lawyers but also to contractors, architects, quantity surveyors, engineers, project managers, and multi-disciplinary practitioners. With an emphasis on the practical aspects of professional negligence in the construction industry and written in a straightforward yet authoritative way, this book is ideal for lawyers and students of construction and law as well as construction professionals at all levels.

This book is a study of doctrinal and methodological divergence in the common law of obligations. It explores particular departures from the common law mainstream and the causes and effects of those departures. Some divergences can be justified on the basis of a need to adapt the common law of contract, torts, equity and restitution to local circumstances, or to bring them into conformity with local values. More commonly, however, doctrinal or methodological divergence simply reflects different approaches to common problems, or different views as to what justice or policy requires in particular circumstances. In some instances divergent methodologies lead to substantially the same results, while in others particular causes of action, defences, immunities or remedies recognised in one jurisdiction but not another undoubtedly produce different outcomes. Such cases raise interesting questions as to whether ultimate appellate courts should be slow to abandon principles that remain well accepted throughout the common law world, or cautious about taking a uniquely divergent path. The chapters in this book were originally presented at the Seventh Biennial Conference on the Law of Obligations held in Hong Kong in July 2014. A separate collection, entitled The Common Law of Obligations: Divergence and Unity (ISBN: 9781782256564), is also being published.

This English translation makes available to anglophone readers a modern classic of German tort theory. It argues that modern German tort law is faced with doctrinal tensions based on problematic theoretical assumptions which stem from historical conceptions of tortious liability, inappropriate to modern times. From a theoretical perspective, it argues against the prevalent doctrinal view in Germany that conceives of tortious liability as split between two tracks - a fault-based track and a strict liability track - each with different normative foundations. Instead, Jansen asserts that there is no rigid distinction between the normative foundations of each form of liability. Rather, both fault liability and strict liability in German law, and indeed other European systems, are best considered as resting upon the unifying theoretical structure of outcome responsibility. The book thus places responsibility rather than wrongdoing at the centre of the normative foundations of tort law. Historically, the book traces in detail how conceptions of tort liability have changed from Roman law to contemporary legal doctrine. It shows how particular historical understandings of the normative basis of tort law have led to continuing normative tensions in contemporary doctrine. Finally, the book examines how a reconstruction of modern German - and, indeed, European - law as based upon outcome responsibility should affect its doctrinal structure. This book makes contributions to the study of the theory, history, and doctrinal structure of tort law. While drawing on and explaining German tort law, its comparative, theoretical, and historical analysis will be of interest to scholars in all legal systems.

Mediating Clinical Claims is a timely and detailed look at the growing practice of mediating clinical negligence claims in England, written by one of the UK's most experienced mediators of clinical claims. The book is aimed at all those with an interest in understanding why and how mediation is such an effective process in resolving such claims - claimants, healthcare professional and managers, lawyers, judges, policy-makers and mediators. It reviews research on what claimants and clinicians really want from healthcare complaints and claims. It offers help on how best to prepare for and conduct such mediations, giving numerous anonymised examples based on real mediations. This new title looks at: - How mediation of clinical claims has developed - How mediation differs from other processes - Practical guidance for all participants - The legal framework in which such mediation operates - The law and practice of clinical claims - Process design and the special problems of multi-party claims - Future developments. Mediating Clinical Claims provides mediators, claimants, healthcare professionals and their legal representatives with all the guidance they need to ensure that a successful and fair outcome is achieved for all those involved in such mediations.