书城外语法律专业英语教程
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第21章 Tort Law 侵权法(2)

To find a defendant liable for an intentional tort, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant performed the action leading to the damages the plaintiff alleges, and that the defendant acted with purpose, or that he had knowledge with substantial certainty that an act would result in a tortious result. Furthermore, the action must be a recognized“wrongful act”. A famous case in the 1800s involved a hemophiliac child ( Vosburg) who was kicked by another child ( Putney) at school, resulting in severe disability of the leg. Although the kicker could not have reasonably foreseen that the kick would cause severe disability, he certainly could have foreseen that it would cause discomfort, and was found liable.

For example, a plaintiff attempting to prove that a defendant committed the intentional tort of battery must fulfill several factors:

①Intent;②an Act;③Cause; and④Harmful or offensive contact.

Here,“intent”means either purpose or“knowledge with substantial certainty”.“Cause”in an intentional tort need only be“actual cause”; that is, but for the defendant s action the tortious result would not have occurred. The plaintiff need not allege or prove proximate cause, which would indicate that the result of the defendant s actions was reasonably foreseeable.

Common law intentional torts include:

Assault;

Battery;

Conversion;

False imprisonment;

Trespass to land;

Trespass to chattels ( Personal property) ;

Intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Remedies

The main remedy against tortious loss is compensation in“damages”or money. In a limited range of cases, tort law will tolerate self-help, such as reasonable force to expel a trespasser. This is a defence against the tort of battery. Further, in the case of a continuing tort, or even where harm is merely threatened, the courts will sometimes grant an injunction. This means a command, for something other than money by the court, such as restraining the continuance or threat of harm. Usually injunctions will not impose positive obligations on tortfeasors, but some Australian jurisdictions can make an order for specific performance to ensure that the defendant carries out their legal obligations, especially in relation to nuisance matters.

Case analysis

Tort law spans intentional and negligent acts. For instance, Alice throws a ball and accidentally hits Brenda in the eye. Brenda may sue Alice for losses occasioned by the accident ( e.g. costs of medical treatment, lost income during time off work) . Whether or not Brenda wins her suit depends on if she can prove Alice engaged in tortious conduct. Here, Brenda would attempt to prove that Alice had a duty and failed to exercise the standard of care which a reasonable person would render in throwing the ball.

One of the main topics of the substance of tort law is determining the standard of care—a legal phrase that means distinguishing between when conduct is or is not tortious. Put another way, the big issue is whether a person suffers the loss from his own injury, or whether it gets transferred to someone else.

Returning to the example above, if Alice threw the ball at Brenda purposely, Brenda could sue for the intentional tort of battery ( and the action might also, separately, be pursued as a criminal matter) . If it was an accident, Brenda must prove negligence. To do this, Brenda must show that her injury was reasonably foreseeable, that Alice owed Brenda a duty of care not to hither with the ball, and that Alice failed to meet the standard of care required.

In much of the western world, the touchstone of tort liability is negligence. If the injured party cannot prove that the person believed to have caused the injury acted with negligence, at the very least, tort law will not compensate them. Tort law also recognizes intentional torts and strict liability, which apply to defendants who engage in certain actions.

In tort law, injury is defined broadly. Injury does not just mean a physical injury, such as where Brenda was struck by a ball. Injuries in tort law reflect any invasion of any number of individual interests. This includes interests recognized in other areas of law, such as property rights. Actions for nuisance and trespass to land can arise from interfering with rights in real property. Conversion and trespass to chattels can protect interference with movable property. Interests in prospective economic advantages from contracts can also be injured and become the subject of tort actions. A number of situations caused by parties in a contractual relationship may nevertheless be tort rather than contract claims, such as breach of fiduciary duty.

Tort law may also be used to compensate for injuries to a number of other individual interests that are not recognized in property or contract law, and are intangible. This includes an interest in freedom from emotional distress,privacy interests,and reputation. These are protected by a number of torts such as infliction, privacy torts, and defamation. Defamation and privacy torts may, for example, allow a celebrity to sue a newspaper for publishing an untrue and harmful statement about him. Other protected interests include freedom of movement, protected by the intentional tort of false imprisonment.

liable / lai bl/adj. 有责任的,有义务的;应受罚的;

有倾向的;易的

negligence / neglidns/n.疏忽;过失

injunctive /indktiv/adj.命令的;指令的; [律]禁止令

nuisance / nju s ns/n.麻烦事;损害;讨厌的人;讨厌的

东西

trespass / tresp s/n.过失;罪过;非法侵入;擅自进入

incursion /in kn/n.入侵;侵犯

defamation / def mein/n.中伤;诽谤

proximate / pr ksimit/adj.直接的,最近的;近似的

tortfeasor / t t fi z /n.[律]犯侵权行为者

precaution /pri kn/n.防范,预防,警惕;预防措施

detrimental / detri ment l/adj.有害的;不利的

battery / b t ri/n.[法律] (非法)殴打

tortious / ts/adj.侵权行为的,非法行为的

hemophiliac / hi m fili k/n.[医]血友病患者

adj.[医]血友病的

chattel / tt l /n.动产

infliction /in flikn/n.施加;处罚,刑罚

injunction / indkn/n.命令;禁令;劝告

fiduciary /fi djuri /adj.受信托的;基于信用的;信托的n.受托人;被信托者