Tort Law — Exam Study Resources
Twenty topic notes drawn from your lecture slides and supplemented from leading authorities. Each page is structured for top-band marks: doctrine, leading cases, application framework, common pitfalls and an exam checklist. Designed to read on screen and to print to A4.
How the exam is structured
Coursework (30%) — a single 2,000-word problem question, due February 2026.
Unseen examination (70%) — answer three questions in total.
- Part I — one compulsory problem question on Negligence.
- Part II — two from three (mixture of problem and essay) covering the remaining torts.
The negligence chain (L1–L7, plus L11–L12) is therefore the highest-leverage area: it is guaranteed to appear and carries the most marks. Treat the other torts as essay-and-problem ready.
Module 1 · The Negligence Chain
Introduction to Tort Law & Negligence
What tort law protects, where negligence sits, the fault principle, and the three-element equation: duty + breach + damage.
L1_Introduction to Tort Law and Negligence.pptx 02 · L2Duty of Care
Donoghue → Anns → Caparo → Robinson v CCWY. The post-Robinson incrementalism approach and how to deploy it in problem questions.
L2_ Duty of Care (1).pptx 03 · L3Breach of Duty
The reasonable person, risk factors (probability, gravity, utility, cost), Bolam & Bolitho, and the special-skill standard.
L3 _ Breach of Duty.pptx 04 · L4Omissions & Third-Party Liability
The default rule of no liability for pure omissions and the four classic exceptions, including Smith v Littlewoods.
L4_Omissions and 3rd party liability.pptx 05 · L5Public Bodies
Negligence claims against police, social services and emergency services after Robinson, Michael, CN v Poole BC and HXA.
L5_Public bodies.pptx 06 · L6Causation
The but-for test, material contribution, the Fairchild exception, loss of chance and intervening acts (novus actus).
L6_ Causation.pptx 07 · L7Remoteness
Wagon Mound, kind-of-damage foreseeability, Hughes v Lord Advocate, the eggshell-skull rule and Khan v Meadows scope of duty.
L7_Remoteness.pptxModule 2 · Special Damage Categories
Pure Economic Loss
Hedley Byrne assumption of responsibility, Caparo, the exclusionary rule, and the post-Robinson picture (NRAM, Steel v NRAM).
L8_Pure Economic Loss.pptx 09 · L9Psychiatric Injury
Recognised illness; primary v. secondary victims; Alcock control mechanisms; Page v Smith; Paul v Royal Wolverhampton [2024].
L9_Liability for Psychiatric Injury.pptxModule 3 · Skills, Defences & Consolidation
Problem-Solving Skills
IRAC adapted for tort, the order of analysis, time-management, and how examiners allocate marks.
L10_Problem solving skills.pptx 11 · L11Defences
Contributory negligence, volenti non fit injuria, illegality (Patel v Mirza), and exclusion of liability under UCTA / CRA.
Lecture 11 Defences_2425.pptx 12 · L12Consolidation of Duty of Care
Synthesis of duty across categories — physical injury, omissions, economic loss, psychiatric injury and public bodies.
Lecture 12 Consolidation of DoC_2526 Final.pptxModule 4 · Specific Torts & Liabilities
Occupiers' Liability
OLA 1957 (visitors) and OLA 1984 (trespassers) — common duty of care, warnings, independent contractors, Tomlinson.
Lecture 13 Occupiers Liability_2526.pptx 14 · L14Private Nuisance — Part I
Standing (Hunter v Canary Wharf), defendants, and the unreasonable-interference factors: locality, duration, sensitivity, malice.
Nuisance Part I_2025-26.pptx 15 · L15Nuisance Part II + Rylands v Fletcher
Defences, remedies (Coventry v Lawrence), public nuisance, and the rule in Rylands v Fletcher.
Nuisance Lecture Part II_2026.pptx 16 · L16Trespass to the Person
Battery, assault, false imprisonment; Wilkinson v Downton; the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
L16_Trespass to the person_2025-26.pptx 17 · L17Product Liability
Common-law route (Donoghue) versus the Consumer Protection Act 1987 strict-liability regime.
L17_Product Liability_2025-26.pptx 18 · L18Employers' Liability
Primary non-delegable employer's duty + vicarious liability after Various Claimants v Barclays and Morrisons.
L18_Employers Liability_2025-26.pptx 19 · L19Remedies
Compensatory damages, heads of loss, aggravated & exemplary damages, mitigation, and injunctions.
L19_Remedies_2025-26.pptx