Tort law

Question 1

Fault liability

Answer 1

If one person does something wrong and thereby causes damage to another person, compensatory justice (also called “retributive justice) requires that the wrongdoer compensates the damage. makes sense only when the person who caused the damage was at fault.

Question 2

The principle “no liability without fault”

Answer 2

simply means that it is not the damage which obligates compensation, but the fault

Question 3

duty of care

Answer 3

The obligation people bound to each other not to cause any unreasonable harm or risk of harm

Question 4

breach of duty of care

Answer 4

A failure to exercise care or to act as a reasonable person would act.

Question 5

damage

Answer 5

The plaintiff must suffer personal injury or damage to his or her property to recover monetary damages for the defendant’s act

Question 6

causation

Answer 6

a person who commits a negligent act is not liable unless his or her act was the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.

Question 7

the reasonable professional standard

Answer 7

Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, architects, accountants, and others bound to a duty of ordinary care in providing their services.A professional who breaches this duty is liable for professional malpractice

Question 8

strict liability

Answer 8

victim suffers damage without anyone deserving blame for it. Normally, this victim has to bear the damage himself, but sometimes there are reasons to shift the damage from the victim who suffered it in the 1st place to someone else. The latter person will be liable for the damage even without any fault.

Question 9

Liability for damage caused by other persons=vicarious liability

Answer 9

There should be a special connection between the person who is liable for damages caused by a tortfeasor. We can see such a relationship between an employer and an employee (the other name of this liability is vicarious liability), and between parents and their children.

Question 10

deep pocket theory

Answer 10

liability should be placed where the money is.

Question 11

criminal law

Answer 11

behavior classified as dangerous to society; prosecuted by the government, whether victim wants to prosecute or not; money award goes to the government

Question 12

contract law

Answer 12

based on breach of an agreement between the two parties; victim prosecutes and receives compensation or other remedy.

Question 13

tort law

Answer 13

based on an obligation imposed by the law with no agreement needed between parties; victim prosecutes and receives compensation or other remedy.

Question 14

Tort law differs from criminal law

Answer 14

in that it does not focus on punishment but on the compensation of damage

Question 15

tort law differs from contract law

Answer 15

in that it does not deal with the damage that results from the nonperformance of contracts.

Question 16

prevention of damage

Answer 16

By making persons liable to compensate to those who actually suffered the damage, tort law promotes that these people be more careful to avoid damage.
For example, a car producer who must compensate for the damage caused by a defective car will be stimulated to invest even more in security checks.

Question 17

possibility to recover

Answer 17

A third function is to allow victims,who suffered damage caused by the behavior of someone else or because of an event for which the victims were not responsible themselves, to recover this damage. This function explains both strict liabilities and liabilities for the faults of other persons, including the liability of employers and parents for faults of, respectively, their employees and their children.

Question 18

economic efficiency

Answer 18

One way to distribute damage over society may lead to less costs for society as a whole than another way of distributing the damage.
For instance, it is easier and probably cheaper that the owners of tigers insure themselves against the risk that the tigers will escape and wound people, than it is for ordinary citizens to insure themselves against the risk that they will be wounded by a runaway tiger. Imposing a strict liability on owners of dangerous animals such as tigers will then lead to less costs for society as a whole.

Question 19

fairness

Answer 19

The introduction of cars into everyday life has created the risk of people being injured or even killed in a car accident. Although such accidents are sometimes to be blamed on the victims themselves, it cannot be denied that the use of cars increases the chance of serious traffic accidents enormously. The imposition of an almost strict liability on car owners, who profit from the use of cars, means that the resulting damage does not have to be borne (completely) by the victims of these accidents.