Mohammad Ata-ur-Rahman

Common Law Definition

Common law (also known as case law or precedent) is
law developed by judges, courts, and similar tribunals,
stated in decisions that nominally decide individual
cases but that in addition have precedential effect on
future cases.
Classification of Torts
There are basically three types of torts:
intentional torts;
negligence; and
strict liability.
Court Structure
How to Read a Law School
Casebook

The Caption
The Case Citation
The Author of the Opinion
The Facts of the Case
The Law of the Case
The Disposition
Concurring and/or Dissenting Opinions
How to read a case citation
How to read a case citation (US)
Common UK Abbreviations (1)
The Law Report Series
AC Appeal Cases
Ch Law Reports, Chancery Division
QB Law Reports, Queen's Bench Division
KB Law Reports, King's Bench Division
Fam Law Reports, Family Division
P Law Reports, Probate Division
Other commercial series
All ER All England Reports
BCLC Butterworths Company Law Cases
Cr App R Criminal Appeal Reports
Cr App R (S) Criminal Appeal Reports Sentencing
FSR Fleet Street Reports
ICR Industrial Cases Reports
IRLR Industrial Relations Law Reports
LLoyd's LR Lloyd's Law Reports
P & CR Property, Planning and Compensation reports
SC Session Cases (Scottish)
WLR Weekly Law Reports
Electronic Citations
Neutral Citations since Internet Reporting of Cases Started:
Consist of the year, the court abbreviation (for example
EWCA Civ) and then the case number

Sources:
Westlaw ( paid subscription),
Lexis Library (paid subscription) or
bailli (free resource)
British and Irish Legal Information Institute
http://www.bailii.org/
Examples of Electronic Citation
[YEAR] COURT ABBREVIATION CASE NUMBER
[2005] EWCA Civ 101 (this is the 101st case of 2005
in the Court of Appeal Civil division)
[2006] EWHC 101 admin(101st case of 2006 in the
High Court Administrative division)
[2003] UKHL (now SC) 5 (5th case of 2003 in the
House of Lords (now the Supreme Court)
Example of a US case citation:
Hebb v. Severson, 201 P.2d 156 (Wash. 1948)

In this example, Hebb and Severson are the parties in

the case. The case can be found in volume 201 of the
Pacific Reporter, Second Series beginning on page 156.
The case was decided by the Washington State
Supreme Court in 1948.
Case-Law in Pakistan
Pakistan Law Site
http://www.pakistanlawsite.com/
Pakistan Law Journal
http://www.pljlawsite.com/
http://www.keylawreports.com/
Pakistan Legal Abbreviations
Pakistan:
The All Pakistan Legal Decision (PLD), (1947-2005)
The Civil Law Cases (CLC), (1980-2005)
Pakistan Labour Cases (PLC), (1950-2004)
Pakistan Supreme Court Cases (PSC), (1985-2004)
Supreme Court Monthly Review (SCMR), (1968-2005)
National Law Report (NLR), (1996-2005)
Pakistan Annual Tax Decision (PTD), (1959-2004)
Pakistan Criminal Law Journal (PCr.LJ), (1968-2005)
Pakistan Law Journal (PLJ), (1981-2004)
Pakistan Annual Law Digest (PATD), (1972-2005)
Pakistan Law Reports (PLR), Vol-01-18 (1951-1968)
Case-Law in India
Supreme Court Decisions
www.courtnic.nic.in
All India Reporter (AIR)
Supreme Court Cases
Supreme Court Almanac, and
Judgments Today
Example of Indian Citation
Sebastian Hongray v. Union of India:
AIR 1984 SC 571 – "AIR" refers to the All India Reporter, "1984" is the year
of judgement (AIR does not use a volume-based classification), "SC"
refers to the Supreme Court of India, and "571" is the first page number
of the report within the volume;

(1984) 1 SCC 339 – "1984" is the year of publication, "1" is the volume
number of the reporter, "SCC" stands for Supreme Court Cases (the
name of the reporter), and "339" is the first page number of the report
within the volume; and

1984 Cri LJ 289 (SC) – "1984" is the year of publication, "Cri LJ" is an
abbreviation for the Criminal Law Journal (the name of the reporter),
and "289" is the first page number of the report within the volume. The
"SC" in parentheses indicates that the case was heard by the Supreme
Court.
Indian Abbreviations:
All India Report (AIR), (1914-2008)
Company Cases (CC), Vol-01-146 (1931-2007)
Income Tax Report (ITR), Vol-01-307 (1933-2008)
AIR Supreme Court Weekly (SCW), (1997-2008)
Criminal Law Journal (CrLJ), (1904-2008)
Labour & Industrial Cases (LIC), (1968-2008)
Service Law Reporter (SLR), (1967-2004)
All India Service Law Journal (SLJ), (1972-2004)
Bombay Law Reporter (BLR), (1911-2004)
Supreme Court Reports (SCR), (1951-2003)
Calcutta Law Journal (CLJ), (1905-2007)
Supreme Court Cases (SCC), (1969-2008)
Calcutta Weekly Notes (CWN), Vol-01-108 (1896-2004)
Service Law Digest (SLD), (1950-1985)
Weekly Law Reports (WLR), (1864-2007)
Excise & Customs Cases (ECC), (1993-2004)
Indian Cases (IC), Vol-01-224 (1909-1946)
Indian Law Reports (ILR), (1876-1942)
How to Read Judgments
The tips are:

1. Avoid discussion of the facts

2. Skirt around counsels' arguments
3. Look out for an overview of the decision at the beginning of
the judgment
4. Be eagle-eyed for evidence of the decision from the judges'
tone and use of language
5. If time is of the essence, ensure you read the conclusions of the
judges at the end of their decision
6. Read the dissenting opinions as these often provide another
insight into the legal issue in dispute
Difference between Judgment &
Decree
Or Judgment & Sentence in Criminal Cases
Judgment vs Decree - What's the difference?

A decree is what the court orders a party to do. A decree

would be something like ordering a party to pay
money or perform a contract etc. It is the
determination of the rights and liabilities of the
parties to a case.

A judgement is the reasoning given by the judge as to

why the decree was given. A judgement explains the
legal reasoning that formed the basis for the decree,
along with the case law cited, arguments given by
counsel, and the conclusions reached from the same.
Key-parts of Judgment
Ratio Decidendi: "the rationale for the decision".
The ratio decidendi is "the point in a case that
determines the judgment"[1] or "the principle that the
case establishes“

With a proper understanding of the ratio of a precedent,

the advocate can in effect force a lower court to come
to a decision which that court may otherwise be
unwilling to make, considering the facts of the case
Obiter dictum

"by the way“

"said in passing“
For the purposes of judicial precedent, ratio decidendi is
binding, whereas obiter dicta are persuasive only.
Donoghue v Stevenson
Donoghue v Stevenson
Donoghue (or McAlister) v Stevenson, [1932] All ER Rep
1; [1932] AC 562; House of Lords
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC
562
Appellant: May Donoghue
Respondent: Stevenson, a manufacturer
Year: 1932
Court: House of Lords
Judges : Lords Buckmaster, Atkin, Tomlin, Thankerton, and
Macmillan
Country: United Kingdom
Area of law: Duty of care
Issue:
Is there liability in negligence for injury caused by another in
the absence of a contract?
Facts of Case
Donoghue v. Stevenson, also known as the ‘snail in the bottle
case’, is a significant case in Western law.
The House of Lords’ ruling in this case established the civil
law tort of negligence
In Scotland in 1928 Mrs May Donoghue given a bottle of
ginger beer, purchased for her by a friend.

The bottle was later discovered to contain a decomposing

snail.

Mrs Donoghue suffered personal injury as a result. She

commenced a claim against the manufacturer of the
ginger beer
Legal Opinion
Ratio

Manufacturers owe the final consumer of their product a

duty of care (at least in the instance where the goods
cannot be inspected between manufacturing and
consumption). There need not be a contractual
relationship, or privity, in order for the final consumer
to sue in negligence.
Ratio in Donoghue v. Stevenson
A person owes a duty of care to those who he can
reasonably foresee will be affected by his actions.
Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 House of
Lords

Lord Atkin:
"The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes
in law you must not injure your neighbour; and the
lawyer's question " Who is my neighbour ?
The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and
directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to
have them in contemplation as being so affected
when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions
which are called in question."
Ratio when Reading Judgments
Rank of the court (Supreme Court versus an appellate
court)
Number of issues decided in the case (multiple issues
may result in a so-called "multi-legged holdings")
Authority or respect of the judge(s)
Number of concurring and dissenting judges
New applicable statutes
Similarity of the environment as opposed to the age of
the holding
Types of Torts
There are a variety of torts, which can broadly be broken into the
following three categories:
- Negligent torts
Negligent torts, as their name suggests, are torts that are caused
by the negligence of the tortfeasor, or person who commits the tort.
- Intentional torts
Intentional torts, also as their name suggests, are torts caused
intentionally by the tortfeasor.
Strict liability torts
Strict liability torts are torts where the law has determined that
some activities are so dangerous that an individual engaging in
those activities is liable for damages regardless of intent or
negligence resulting in harm. A common example is blasting with
dynamite.
Elements of Any Tort & Liability

The modern law of negligence was established in Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562

In order to be successful in a negligence claim, the claimant must prove:

1. the defendant owed them a duty of care;

2. the defendant was in breach of that duty;

3. the breach of duty caused damage and;

4. the damage was not too remote.

 Intentional Torts
Intentional torts, as the name suggests, are legal wrongs that are
committed on purpose (as opposed to by accident or through
carelessness). An intentional tort occurs when the defendant acts with
the intent to cause actual harm or offense to another person (or at least
the threat of harm or offense). . Intentional torts include:
Battery – applies to almost any form of harmful or offensive contact, even
when no actual injury occurs.
Assault – definition varies by state, but usually includes any intentional
act that places the victim in reasonable fear of imminent harm (i.e.
pointing a loaded gun at someone).
False Imprisonment – occurs when one person intentionally restrains the
movement of another person (actually or constructively) without the
legal right to do so. This can occur when a security guard wrongfully
detains a shoplifting suspect.
Trespassing – unlawful entry onto someone else’s property
Malicious Prosecution
Other Types of Intentional Torts
alienation of affection: a tort based on willful and malicious interference with the
marriage relation by a third party without justification or excuse
invasion of privacy: the wrongful intrusion by individuals or the government into
private affairs with which the public has no concern
Assault / battery
Trespass: a wrongful interference with the possession of property (personal
property as well as realty), or the action instituted to recover damages
continuing trespass: trespass that is not transient or intermittent but continues as
long as the offending object remains
trespass de bonis asportatis: an action brought to recover damages from a person
who has taken goods or property from its rightful owner
trespass on the case: an action brought to recover damages from a person whose
actions have resulted indirectly in injury or loss
trespass quare clausum fregit: the defendant unlawfully enters the land of the
plaintiff
trespass viet armis: trespass with force and arms resulting in injury to another's
person or property
Focus for Today: Negligence
 Negligence is a type of tort

So what is a tort? “A civil wrong . . . for which a remedy may be obtained,

usually in the form of damages; a breach of a duty that
the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another”
Negligence Defined
Defined: “The failure to exercise the standard of care that
a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a
similar situation; any conduct that falls below the legal
standard established to protect others against
unreasonable risk of harm, except for conduct that is
intentionally, wantonly, or willfully disregardful of
others' rights”

Important characteristic of negligence – the defendant does not intend for the bad
consequences to result
How to Prove Negligence
The plaintiff needs to prove four elements by a
preponderance

of the evidence
1. Duty
2. Breach of Duty
3. Causation (two parts)
a. Causation in Fact
b. Causation in Law
4. Damage that was not too remote
Intentional Torts vs. Negligence in Personal Injury
Cases
Negligent Torts
Duty
Breach of Duty and Causation
Followed by Damages which may include:
medical expenses
lost wages
pain and suffering
property damage
Duty
 Defined: “A legal obligation that is owed or due to
another and that needs to be satisfied; an obligation for
which somebody else has a corresponding right”

Example: If you drive a car, you have a duty to obey the rules of the road
The Duty of Care
Generally speaking, a person owes a “duty of care” to
those around him or her (i.e. a duty to act reasonably)

How is this duty of care determined?

– By an objective standard

When evaluating a person’s conduct, tort law asks – would a reasonable person
of ordinary prudence in the defendant’s position act as the defendant did?
Negligent Torts: Duty
Everyone has a duty to exercise due care all of the time. What
is due care?

Due care is the amount of care that a reasonable person

would exercise under the circumstances. What is a
reasonable person?

A reasonable person is not any real person or even the

average person, but an imaginary prudent person who
takes the precautions necessary to avoid harming another
person or their property.
Who is the Reasonable Person?
 The reasonable person is a legal fiction

Typically, the jury is asked whether a reasonable

person of ordinary prudence in the defendant’s
position would act as the defendant acted
The reasonable person
considers: how likely a certain
harm is to occur, how serious
the harm would be if it did
occur, and the burden involved
in avoiding the harm
Negligence - duty of care
Duty of care refers to the circumstances and
relationships which the law recognises as giving rise
to a legal duty to take care. A failure to take such
care can result in the defendant being liable to pay
damages to a party who is injured or suffers loss as a
result of their breach of duty of care. Therefore it is
necessary for the claimant to establish that the
defendant owed them a duty of care. The existence
of a duty of care depends on the type of loss and
different legal tests apply to different losses.
This lecture considers the position in relation to
personal injury and property damage.
The neighbour test:

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562

Lord Atkin:
"The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes
m law you must not injure your neighbour; and the
lawyer's question " Who is my ' neighbour ?" The
answer seems to be persons who are so closely and
directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to
have them in contemplation as being so affected
when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions
which are called in question."
2 point neighbour test

The neighbour test for establishing a duty of care can be

broken down in to two requirements:

1. Reasonable foresight of harm

2. A relationship of proximity
 Torts vs Easements
A right of use over the property of another. Traditionally t
he permitted kinds of uses were limited, the most impor
tant being
rights of way and rights concerning flowing waters. The
easement was normally for the benefit of adjoining lan
ds, no matter
who the owner was (an easement appurtenant), rather
than for the benefit of a specific individual (easement i
n gross).
Dakota Access Pipeline case.
 THE EASEMENTS ACT, 1882
(ACT NO. V OF 1882)
Dominant and servient heritages and owners. The
land for the beneficial enjoyment of which the right
exists is called the dominant heritage, and the owner
or occupier thereof the dominant owner; the land on
which the liability is imposed is called the servient
heritage, and the owner or occupier thereof the
servient owner.
 Delict
is a term in civil law jurisdictions for a civil wrong consisting
of an intentional or negligent breach of duty of care that
inflicts loss or harm and which triggers legal liability for
the wrongdoer; however, its meaning varies from one
jurisdiction to another
Liability is imposed on the basis of moral responsibility, i.e. a
duty of care or to act, and fault (culpa) is the main element
of liability. The term is used in mixed legal systems such
as Scotland, South Africa, Louisiana and the Philippines,
but tort is the equivalent legal term used in common
law jurisdictions.
Assignment
Write Paragraph About Dakota Access Pipeline

Please email 381asrc@gmail.com

By 26 Feb 18 @ 5:00 pm