Harassment

Question 1

What legal authority is the tort of harassment based on?

Answer 1

• statute based tort
• Harassment act 1997
• creates a criminal offence of harassment and also a civil tort for harassment

Question 2

definition of harassment

Answer 2

-persisted and unwanted attention/conduct that causes distress

Question 3

key characteristics of harassment

Answer 3

• must be more than a single unpleasant event, needs to be a ‘course of conduct’ (S1(1))
• D must know/ought to know their conduct amounts to harassment, they need to have intention (S1(2))

Question 4

R v C (2001) on the objectivity of the ‘ought to know’ test for harassment

Answer 4

• this is an objective test
• doesn’t take into account any mental disorders of D
• the act to protect victims, not harassers

Question 5

Three types of conduct that falls outside scope of harassment (s1(3))

Answer 5

• pursued to prevent/detect crime
• pursued under enactment/rule of law/to comply with condition or requirement imposed by a lawful authority
• if particular circumstances of pursuit of conduct was reasonable

Question 6

Qualification for harassment in Iqbal v Dean Manson Solicitors (2011)

Answer 6

conduct “must go beyond the ordinary banter and badinage of daily life” for it to constitute harassment
-unpleasant conduct part of every day life doesn’t fall within scope, must go beyond

Question 7

What is the requirement from Hayes v Willoughby

Answer 7

-requirement of rationality

Question 8

Chief constable of surrey v Godfrey (2017)

Answer 8

• D was former soldier
• emailed police force about intention to conduct surviellance on police officers he suspencted of being bad cops
• followed them around and did creepy/threatening things
• force bring harassment claim
• D responsed that his actions fell within scope of s1(3) and that he was acting to prevent crime
• court held his actions were harassment
• caused officers distress and he was also picking officers at random so he didn’t fulfill Hayes rationality requirement

Question 9

Section 1 (3c) Harassment act

Answer 9

conduct won’t be harassment if “in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable”

Question 10

What does section 7(2) say about the consequences of harassment?

Answer 10

• can include ‘alarming the person or causing the person distress’
• doesn’t have to result in recognised psychiatric injury/physical injury

Question 11

Course of conduct requirement in s 7(3)

Answer 11

• for the harassment of a single person, conduct must occur on at least 2 occasions in relation to that person
• where conduct is relating to 2 or more it must occur on at least 1 occasion to at least 1 of thos people

Question 12

Does harassment have to have occured for an actionable claim (s3(1)) ?

Answer 12

NO

-prevention is more ieal for courts

Question 13

Primary remedy for harassment

Answer 13

-an injunction to prevent D from committing harassing behaviour

Question 14

Other remedies for harassment

Answer 14

• damages for anxiety caused by harassment or financial loss (s3(2))
• if C thinks D’s conduct breached injunction C can apply for warrant for arrest