General Defences

Question 1

Volenti criteria

Answer 1

Claimant:
- knew of risk
- voluntarily agreed to the risk of being injured by D
(- voluntarily agreed that there should be no legal liability for this)

Question 2

Plaintiff accepted lift with drunk pilot

Answer 2

Morris v Murray - claimant’s drunkness had to be taken into account by court when determining whether he appreciated the danger involved

Question 3

Voluntary consent is in addition to knowledge. Employees who know risks are not necessarily voluntarily agreeing

Answer 3

Smith v Charles Baker

Question 4

Implied consent - spectators at dangerous sport

Answer 4

Hall v Brookland Auto Racing Club

Question 5

Claimant must possess mental capacity to consent

Answer 5

Kirkham v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police

Question 6

Volenti will not apply to a rescuer

Answer 6

Haynes v Harwood

Question 7

Volenti may apply in non-urgent situation so person who interferes is not a rescuer

Answer 7

Cutler v United Dairies

Question 8

Driving instructor had not agreed to be injured by learner

Answer 8

Nettleship v Weston

Question 9

No implied agreement unless risk is so extreme that it is the equivalent of meedling with an unexploded bomb

Answer 9

Dann v Hamilton

Question 10

Drunk student dived into swimming pool without checking depth

Answer 10

Ratcliffe v O’Connell

Question 11

Volenti cannot be used by motorists against their passengers

Answer 11

s149 Road traffic Act

Question 12

Guilty of contributory negligence if he reasonably ought to have foreseen that if he did not act as a reasonably prudent man, he might be hurt

Answer 12

Jones v Livox

Question 13

Contributory negligence - an obviously incorrect valuation should’ve put claimant on alert

Answer 13

Cavendish v Henry Spencer

Question 14

It does not matter that the claimant has no broken the law

Answer 14

Froom v Butcher

Question 15

Allowances are made for a claimant who has been placed in an emergency or difficult dilemma

Answer 15

Jones v Boyce

Question 16

Courts will take into account the age of a child in determining the standard of care to be expected

Answer 16

Gough v Thorne

Question 17

Rescuers will no be protected from contributory negligence if they created the danger in the first place

Answer 17

Harrison v BRB

Question 18

Claimant’s fault must contribute to his injury

Answer 18

Froom v Butcher
O’Connell v Jackson (no helmet)
Capps v Miller (failed to wear helmet properly)

Question 19

Ex turpi causa

Answer 19

Courts will not compensate a claimant who is a wrongdoer or where it would be an affront to the public conscience to do so - Kirkham

Question 20

Compensation denied to passender injured by getaway driver after they’d both been involved in burglary

Answer 20

Ashton v Turner

Question 21

P and D both heavily intoxicated, P rode pillion of D’s motorbike, encouraging D to drive recklessly. Joint illegality made it impossible to apply a standard of care and action failed

Answer 21

Pitts v Hunt

Question 22

There must be a nexus between the criminal act and the negligent act

Answer 22

Gray v Thames Trains

Question 23

Self-defence - force must be reasonable and proportionate

Answer 23

Lane v Holloway

Creswell v Sirl (shooting dog threatening livestock ok)

Question 24

Inevitable accident

Answer 24

Defendant does not intend in anyway and no avoidable by any such precautions as a reasonable man could be expected to take - Stanley v Powell (shot in eye)

Question 25

D damned a natural stream, not liable when banks broke due to heavy rainfall

Answer 25

Nichols v Marsland

Question 26

Paddling pool constructed requiring course of stream to be altered - heavy rainfall was not an Act of God - must be exceptional

Answer 26

Greenock

Question 27

Necessity - trespassed to stop fire spreading

Answer 27

Cope v Sharpe (no2)

Question 28

Homeless squatter not sufficient to constitute necessity for trespass

Answer 28

Southwark v Williams

Question 29

Necessity doesn’t apply to negligence

Answer 29

Rigby v CC of Northamptonshire

Question 30

Statutory authority - absolute authority

Answer 30

Vaughan v Taff vale

Question 31

Conditional statutory authority

Answer 31

Metropolitan District Asylum Board v Hill

Question 32

Discretionary statutory authority

Answer 32

X v Bedfordshire CC

Question 33

Duress

Answer 33

Gilbert v Stone

Question 34

UCTA controls the exclusion of liability

Answer 34

Smith v Eric Bush