Fault Essay
Fault Essay English law is largely based on the idea that there should be no liability without proof of fault. Fault implies a sense of blameworthiness, the concept of which is evident in both the criminal and civil law. Fault is partially important in criminal law where it is accepted that a defendant must be responsible for his actions and be regarded as blameworthy. The notion of fault is inextricably linked to the idea of fairness and justice as it is the overriding aim of the law to only punish those who have broken it. The requirement of fault is clearly demonstrated in the actus reus (AR) of an offence where the defendants (D's) conduct must generally be carried out voluntarily in order for liability to be attached. With regards to coincidence for example, the courts have adopted a flexible approach in order to find fault and attach responsibility in the interests of justice even where strictly speaking the AR and MR don't co-inside. In Fagan, liability was attached to a continuing act and in Thabo Meli a sequence of events. Also, result crimes such as murder require proof that the D is both the factual and legal cause of the consequence if he is to be held responsible. The availability of the defence of automatism for example reflects the fact that if D's conduct is truly involuntary due to an external factor such as a blow to the head, he will not be regarded as
Revision of reforms
Reform of NFOAP. Structual: - Mixture of common law and statute (Sexual Offences 2003/CJA 1988) - No clear definitions = confusion, cost, delay + injustice - Criticisms by law commission: 'Rag bag of offences' 1993 - Govt: 'It's a disgrace' 1998 Age: Principal act (1861) almost 150 years old. CJA is also 20 years old - In fast evolving social, cultural and technological society this needs updating: - Psychiatric harm (Ireland/Burstow/Chan-Fook) - Cyber Bullying/Stalking - HIV/AIDS - Dica/Konzani Language: Some terms archaic + don't reflect modern language (Smith - Grevious/Maliciously - Mowatt) - Terms lack clear definition - Assault - Occasioning/Inflicting/Causing all mean the same thing - Burstow Heirarchy: Of offences defies logic - MR doesn't determine liability, AR does - Sentencing of S.47 + 20 are 5 years, then S.18 jumps to life - REFORM? Assault = 6 Months. - New S.47 = 5 Years - New S.20 = 7 Years - S.18 Remains at life. Clarify essential as it deals with 80,000 cases/year. Consent: Adds confusion, public policy constraints make it assault/battery only except from lawful exceptions (Brown/Wilson) Critique Of Offences: Common Assault: - Police/Lawyers/Judges use terms interchangeably. Confusing to lay person - Proposals integrate two offences to simplify and make law clearer Assault: - Man in street
UNIT3 ASSIGNMENT4 LAW OF TORT
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW UNIT 3: THE LAW OF TORT ASSIGNMENT No. 4 : END OF UNIT ASSIGNMENT COPY FOR YOUR RETENTION Toxiclear is a Company, which undertakes the disposal of all kinds of wastes. All employees engaged in the actual disposal work have strict instructions that they are only to dump waste at properly approved sites. However, in view of the bonus payments that can be earned for speedy work, some employees are inclined on occasion to dump materials on private land without permission. * James was one such employee and he dumped a load of highly toxic waste on a part of farmland belonging to Ken and which was not currently in use. Though it was pointed out to Ken by one of his farm workers that a Toxiclear lorry had been seen on his property, Ken took no action. * Unusually heavy rains caused the toxic waste to seep into the soil and some found its way into water, which ran through neighbouring land owned by Leonard, resulting in considerable damage to his crops. * At about the same time, Malcolm, a keen walker, deliberately left a footpath so as to take a short cut across Ken's land. His route took him past the waste, which he stopped to examine. A few days later, he began to experience severe skin irritation, which has proved painful and very difficult to treat. (i) Discuss all the causes of action that Leonard may have against Ken. (ii)
Discuss the relationship between law and morals.
Discuss the relationship between Law and Morals. Consider how far the law seeks to uphold and promote moral values? (June 2002) Laws are legal rules backed by official state sanction and procedures. Failure to follow law results in punishment. The oxford dictionary states "a rule or a system of rules recognised by a country or community as regulating the actions of its members and enforced by the imposition of penalties." Therefore the main reason for laws is to protect individuals and their property from harm in order to preserve command in society and punish those who deserve punishment. Sir John Salmond describes law as "the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice." Morals on the other hand are beliefs and values which are shared by an individual or a group of people based on what is right or wrong. Moral values are normally based on the dominant religion being Christianity, as well as other sources of moral beliefs. These values lead to debates which normally consist of sexual issues and standards of behaviour. In relation to the question, law and morals assist each other. Aristotle stated that the "rule of law is better than the rule of the individual." This portrays that the law simply reflects moral issues where the law seeks to uphold and promote moral values to a certain extent. On my opinion, without any moral beliefs
Tort law. As Abdul invited his neighbours children to his house, this established the relationship between the claimant and the defendant. As they were invited to swim in the swimming pool, and they were children, he has a greater responsibility to take c
Tort law revision - unit 3!!! 2)B) Using the rules you set out in part a, dicuss whether Abdul has been negligent towards tom. Firstly the duty of care needs to be established. Firstly there needs to be a connection between the DF and the claimant, as established in the neighbour test from donoghue and Stevenson. As Abdul invited his neighbours children to his house, this established the relationship between the claimant and the defendant. As they were invited to swim in the swimming pool, and they were children, he has a greater responsibility to take care of them as children have less spacial awareness of things that go on around them then adults, so they are more likely to have harm caused to them than an adult. So they have been connected as neighbours in law, as Abdul has invited the children to swim in his swimming pool, as he has invited them he has created a duty of responsibility over the children as they are in his care. Also, as it is his swimming pool he has a duty to make sure that it is fit to be used by other people, and that there are no risks of sever injuries from the use of it. Following the three stage test from caparo v dickman, the first question that needs to be applied to this scenario is was the harm reasonably foreseeable? As Abdul had just finished cleaning around the pool, and the surrounding paving was quite slippery, some harm could be
Discuss the meaning of fault on the basis for criminal liability. Explain and evaluate the impositions of liability without fault.
Discuss the meaning of fault on the basis for criminal liability. Explain and evaluate the impositions of liability without fault. Fault exists through our legal system and can be defined as "the responsibility for doing something wrong". It can also refer to "a defect of failing" or "wrongdoing". Within our legal system, there are many elements of criminal law that demands liability to be proved depending upon fault i.e. the defendant to blame, and in contrast to this, there can also be liability proved not depending upon fault i.e. the defendant is not necessarily to blame. One issue is the causation in result crimes. This is where the defendant is usually liable if they actually cause the outcome. This then proves whether the defendant was at fault or not. For example, in R V White, the son's act of putting the poison in his mother's drunk didn't kill her, but she actually died from a natural cause, therefore, this broke the chain of causation because he was not the factual cause of the outcome, thus resulting in him not being liable. In contrast to this, in R V Pagett, the defendant was proving to have caused the death of his girlfriend by using her as a human shield when openly firing at police, who then returned fire, thus killing the girlfriend. Therefore, but for Pagett using his girlfriend as a human shield, she would not have died. In addition to this, if the
International Law
QUESTION A & B are two homosexuals who have lived together for a number of years. Also living with them is C, who, while aged 30 is mentally abnormal and has a mental age of 10. A and B have cared for C for 2 years since C's remaining parent, an old friend of theirs, died. C cannot look after himself very well and occasionally goes through periods of deep depression. One day, A thinking that C might learn how to bake a cake, shows C how to mix ingredients and use the gas oven. He then goes to the shops to buy some decorations "to surprise B". When A gets back he finds C lying unconscious on the kitchen floor. There is a strong smell of gas. A rushes out to a telephone box to ring B. Meanwhile B arrives home and from smelling the gas and seeing the state of C, thinks that C had committed suicide. Fearing for his legal safety he hides C in a cupboard where C suffocates to death. Advice A and B. SUGGESTED SOLUTION A & B are advised that the state acting under prerogative via the Crown Prosecution Service will seek to juxtapose their actions with the existing scope of the law. Congruence will lead to a conviction of the charge. The charge here is submitted to be in the realm of homicide since there is a fatality upon C. Thus it is the Crown's burden to prove the unlawful killing with the intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm beyond a reasonable doubt. DPP v
Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter
Rudi Harnick U6G2 Unit 4 Essay Discuss the criticisms which may be made of the law on murder (including voluntary manslaughter) Contrary to Common Law murder is defined as the killing of a human being within the Queens Peace with malice aforethought and on conviction carries a mandatory life sentence. On the other hand voluntary manslaughter is a Common Law offence and carries up to life imprisonment. For both murder and voluntary manslaughter the Actus Reus is exactly the same: a voluntary act (or omission in some cases) that is the factual and legal cause of the death of a human being. In the UK there is no legal definition of death and this could lead to uncertainty when the jury is considering whether the defendant is guilty or not. Problems are yet to occur and even when the Criminal Law Committee considered this problem in 1980 they concluded that statute should not intervene. So the courts have continued to interpret the meaning of death where necessary. For example in R V Malcherek the court decided it was suitable to assume that death occurs when the victim is brain dead. However they also said that turning off life support does not brake the chain of causation when seeing if a defendant is liable. Also thanks to the passing of the Law Reform Act (year and a day rule 1996) a defendant can be held liable even if the victim dies three years after the incident
Discuss the extent to which discrimination is prohibited under English and Welsh law (25 marks)
Discuss the extent to which discrimination is prohibited under English and Welsh law (25 marks) Article 14 of the European convention on Human rights protects individuals from discrimination. Traditionally English law has intervened to control discrimination in a very limited way, it is initially applied only to the areas of race and sex and only in relation to discrimination for certain purposes. E.g. they targeted race discrimination after WW2 when we had significant immigration from the commonwealth. Whereas the coverage is much larger today and broadly apply to employment discrimination, housing, education and the provision of services. The English law previously provided no remedy against unjustifiable discrimination, therefore in Applin v Race Relations Board (1975) Lord Simon referred to the "unbridled capacity to discriminate" at common law. This was in line with the traditional civil liberties in Britain and the view that an individual could do anything that the law does not prohibit. Therefore if sexual discrimination were to be tackled legislation would have to be passed. The First but limited attempt to prevent racial discrimination was the Race Relations Act 1965 which was later followed by the Race Relations Act 1968 which had a wider scope and extended this prevention of discrimination in law into further areas. On the other hand in areas such as sex
Taking selected areas of the civil and or criminal law, evaluate whether sportsmen and women are treated differently from the general public in proceedings that have their origin on the field of play.
Sports Assignment Question 2 Taking selected areas of the civil and or criminal law, evaluate whether sportsmen and women are treated differently from the general public in proceedings that have their origin on the field of play. Answer Sport plays a major part in the culture of today's society. Many people spend considerable time in front of the television, in sports grounds and traveling all over the country to support their respective club whether it be football, rugby, cricket or netball etc. However whilst playing, spectating or just generally being involved in a sport, things can go wrong and this very often results in an action in the civil or criminal courts. Sporting incidents should be dealt with like any other civil or criminal action, however there is evidence this is not happening in many cases in both areas of law. There can be several areas of civil law where claims can be made. These are Negligence, occupier's liability, defamation, nuisance, trespass and animals. However not all these will need to be looked at, the main ones being Negligence and occupiers liability. It is in the area of negligence that I will look at the sporting cases and how they differ from non - sporting cases of civil wrongs. I will be looking at participators, clubs, referees and spectators. In the second section I will be looking at negligence and injuries in football and how
