LAWS204-10W (C) Whole Year 2010

The Law of Torts

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2010
End Date: Sunday, 14 November 2010
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 7 March 2010
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 5 September 2010

Description

General principles of civil liability. The law as to the various kinds of torts. The law relating to compensation for personal injury by accident in New Zealand.

The law of torts potentially concerns the entire range of misfortunes, injuries and losses which human beings can blame on one another.  It determines whether, or in what circumstances, a person who has caused harm to another is liable to compensate that other for the harm.  The course will provide a thorough grounding in the core principles of this key area of law.

A substantial part of the course will concentrate on the law of negligence.  It will deal with general principles and will focus in particular on such important issues as liability for nervous shock, for economic loss and for failing to act, and will consider issues of breach of duty, complex problems of proving causation and remoteness of damage.  The course will also cover various other torts.  These include trespass to land, nuisance, the rule in Rylands v Fletcher, defamation and interference with privacy.  

Torts claims in New Zealand are not much concerned with claims for personal injury, as these generally are barred by the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001.  The principles of the common law are subject to the Act, and accordingly the course will consider the ambit of the accident compensation scheme and the statutory benefits which are available in replacement of the common law action.

Prerequisites

(i) LAWS101; and (ii) LAWS110 from 2012

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Ursula Cheer

Lecturer

Stephen Todd

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Midsessional Test 28 Apr 2010 25%
Essay 21 May 2010 10%
Final Examination 65%


Assessment is by a midsessional test (25%), compulsory essay (10%) and a final examination (65%).

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Todd, Stephen; The law of torts in New Zealand ; 5th ed; Brookers, 2009.

Notes

This is a compulsory core course for the LLB degree.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,186.00

International fee $5,500.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Limited Entry Course

Maximum enrolment is 246

For further information see Faculty of Law .

All LAWS204 Occurrences

  • LAWS204-10W (C) Whole Year 2010
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