Occupier's Lability (1) Flashcards
Question Plan
Identify occupier What is a premises? Who is visitor/trespasser? Is there a duty owed? Was the duty discharged? Damages Defences
Key legislation for Occupier’s Liability (OL)
Occupier’s Liability Act 1957
Occupier’s Liability Act 1984
Who is an Occupier?
A person who exerts a sufficient degree of control to allow/prevent others from entering.
Harris v Birkenhead
Important point in Revill v Newbury
OL only applies where the issue of the defendant being the occupier is relevant to their liability.
What is classified as a premises?
Any fixed or moveable structure, including any vessel, vehicle or aircraft.
S1 (3) OLA 1957
A Visitor
Someone with express/implied permission from the occupier to enter the premises.
Which act governs a visitor’s rights?
Occupier’s Liability Act 1957
Implied permission to enter:
Can be implied from conduct or circumstances e.g. postmen or meter readers.
Legal Rights of Way:
Exercised by policemen/ firefighters carrying out legal duty.
Public Rights of Way:
People using public footpaths were neither visitors or trespassers and therefore owed no duty of care.
Gautret v Edgerton
Right to go over open land:
Anything falling within the description of a; mountain, moor, heath or down.
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000
Duty owed towards visitors:
The OLA 1957 S2 (2) provides a common duty of care.
Common duty of care to visitors:
To take such care, as in all circumstances of the case, is reasonable to see that the visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which he is invited by the occupier to be there.
Providing a Warning:
Does not absolve occupier from liability, must be enough to enable the visitor to be reasonably safe.
No need to warn against clear and obvious
E.g. drowning – Darby v National Trust
