Law of Torts Essay Example

Law is paramount in the land and extends over all the spheres of life. Among the most famous and known to the general public is the criminal law, which is used to combat crime in the society. This branch of law is practiced by every sphere of the society and nations across the globe. However, there are other laws that are less known to the general populations and which still are practiced in the society to ensure the smooth running of the community at large. The law of torts is such an example of laws not known to the average layman but common in the law society. The law of tort encompasses several fields, which were expounded in this paper, along with a few examples where this law has been used and how it is applied in maintaining law and justice in the society.

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The term "Tort" means a wrong of the civil nature which calls for a common law action that would ensure the remittance of unliquidated damages, not exactly a contract, equitable obligation or trust breach. The aim is to compensate the victim and their defendants for the ills done to them in form of damages. It comes about as a result of lawful duty that one owes to the other and allows the offended party to sue their offender for their actions in a court of law. As such, it guarantees the rightful solving of a duty according to law, preventing their recurrence of the said or a similar offence and protecting their protected rights and property ownership in any state or business deal they engage in. It therefore ensures that people adhere reasonable standards and protect the civilians' rights encouraging everyone to act in a constitutional manner in their everyday lives. This is ensured by the provision of remedies to damages suffered by the victims, informed by the choices of the offender.

The law of tort provides several different defenses that are used to check one's behavior towards the other party. An example of the provisions of the law of torts is the provision of inevitable accidents. This refers to accidents that are beyond control of the ordinary humans even with the exercise of the ordinary skill and caution of the average human. Such an accident under the law of torts is not accountable by the participating parties, and can therefore not be accounted for by a single party that was part of the transaction. One prime example is the case of Stanley vs. Powell (1891). The plaintiff in this case was an employee of the defendant, tasked with the transport of cartridges at a shooting party, with the defendant having no intention to shoot or injure the accusing party. However, during the expedition, a member of the party took aim and fired, upon which the bullet rebounded on a tree and injuring the plaintiff in the eye. Upon suing, the employer, it was determined that due to the inability of the defender to prevent the accident, he was thus not liable of any crime, and the plaintiff could not be compensated for the damage done to him by the bullet. In this case, the main argument was that although people must guard against reasonable and preventable accidents, they had no responsibility to guard against forces beyond their control.

Conclusion

The law of torts also provides for recommendations and provisions for other torts such as the Act of God, which compose of natural disasters and how to go about them in a court of law, provisions informed by necessity such as the case involving Esso Petroleum Ltd vs. Southport Corporation (1956), rulings on mistakes and exceptional circumstances as well as those discussed in the study. Also it provides provisions for occupiers' liability as well as guarding against trespass and human rights violations such as false imprisonment, assault and battery.

References

Stanley v. Powell. (2018). Retrieved from http://bdlawman.blogspot.com/2017/08/stanley-v-powell.html