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EnglandLegal StudiesQuick questions
The Law of Tort (Components 2 and 3)
Quick questions on Liability in negligence - Eduqas A-Level Law Component 2
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is breach of duty?Show answer
The defendant breaches the duty if their conduct falls below the standard of the reasonable person carrying out that activity (Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks). The standard is objective: it is not lowered for a learner driver (Nettleship v Weston). A professional is judged against a reasonable member of that profession (Bolam), and a child against a reasonable child of the same age (Mullin v Richards).
What is damage?Show answer
The breach must cause the claimant's damage. Factual causation is tested by the "but for" test: but for the defendant's breach, would the harm have occurred? In Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital a doctor negligently failed to examine a man, but he would have died anyway from the poison, so the breach did not cause his death. The damage must also not be too remote: it must be of a reasonably foreseeable type (The Wagon Mound, where damage by fire was unforeseeable from an oil spill).
What is q1?Show answer
Explain how the courts decide whether a defendant has breached a duty of care. [10 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
A factory fails to provide guards on a machine and a worker loses two fingers. Advise the worker on a claim in negligence. [20 marks]
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