Tort Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Tort Law - Essay Example The police negligently pulled Mike back to the extent of having injured himself. In general, the emphasis is on the conduct of the police. However on occasions, mental state may be irrelevant considerations. Although much emphasis is placed on the notion of force in the modern law of tort, there is a comparatively new development. Legal scholars have different notions about the significance of force in ordinary law. However, the need to prove force in order to establish liability in tort became increasingly important towards the end of the 19th century. Keep in mind that as reforms altered social attitudes, the volume of social legislation designed to improve the lives of people actually increased. Ascribing responsibility became easier with the advancement of science as did greater competence in determining causation which made it easy from a pragmatic point of view to establish force. There was a trend from selfish individualism towards greater social and civil responsibility. This trend manifested itself in legal decisions culminating in Donoghue v Stevenson1. Although Donoghue v Stevenson was principally on negligence to defective products, it had greater significance. This significance was that: negligence is a separate tort in its own rights; an action for negligence can exist whether or not there is a contract between both parties; an action for negligence will succeed if the plaintiff can prove that a duty of care is owed by the defendant to the plaintiff and that this duty of care has been breached, and that there is resultant damage which is not too remote; in order to establish the existence of a duty of care, the â€Å"neighbor principle† based on reasonable foresight must be applied. It is certain therefore, that Mike can sue the police even though there is no contract between Mike and the police; the police owe Mike, Lewis, Maria and Soraya a duty of care