What is the A level Tort Law Curriculum?

Tort is the area of law that deals with civil wrongs.  The OCR and AQA specifications are slightly different, but this is a broad outline of the topics covered by both specifications. 

The tort of negligence arises when an act or a failure to act causes injury or damage to another person or their property.  A level Law students should be able to determine if negligence has occurred by looking at the elements of negligence as follows: 

• 1. Did the defendant owe a duty of care? 
• 2. Did the defendant breach that duty? 
• 3. Did the defendant's breach cause the damaged suffered by the claimant?
• 4. Was the damage foreseeable and not too remote (the remoteness test)? 

Occupiers' liability is the responsibility (duty of care) that an occupier  (someone who owns or leases a land) has towards people who come on to their property. Occupiers have a higher level of responsibility towards lawful visitors than trespassers in accordance with two different Acts of  Parliament. The A level curriculum explores this topic in two parts: in two parts: 

• Occupiers liability in respect to visitors (Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957).
• Occupiers liability in respect to trespassers (Occupiers' Liability Act 1984).

 A legal nuisance happens where a party does something on a piece of land that causes a problem for other people and this leads to a legal dispute. The A level curriculum looks at three different types of nuisance: 

• Public nuisance  (this has been removed from the OCR H018 speck)
• Private nuisance 
• The escape of dangerous things also known as (the rule in Rylands v Fletcher) 

Vicarious Liability is a way of imposing liability for tort on someone who did not commit it. In other words, someone pays for someone else's actions.  In the A level curriculum this topic is explored in situations where an employer is held liable for the actions of their employee. A level students look at: 

• Liability for employees: testing employment status
• Torts in or not in the course of employment
• Liability for the crimes of employees  
• Liability for independent contractors 

Someone who is found liable for a tort will often have financial loses. However, they can either avoid or mitigate liability by using a defence. The A level law curriculum covers the following defences. 

• Contributory negligence
• Consent (volenti non-fit injuria)
• Defences  that are specific to private nuisance
• Defences that are specific to the rule in Rylands v Fletcher

If a claimant’s case is successful, the court will award a remedy (a court-mandated solution) to return the claimant to the position they were in before the tort took place (if possible). The A level curriculum covers the   following remedies: 

1. Compensatory damages 

2. Mitigation of loss 

3. Injunctions 

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