Law of Tort

Law of Tort on the University of Cambridge Law Tripos (Part IA). Civil wrongs and the compensation that follows them — above all the tort of negligence, but also nuisance, defamation and the rules on who bears the loss.

Negligence — duty of care (Caparo and after)

Caparo is a method of legal control, not a mechanical formula for liability.

39 min

Pure economic loss

The common law’s most deliberate refusal to make negligence a general insurance scheme.

34 min

Omissions and public authorities

Liability for inaction turns on responsibility, control, and the limits of public functions.

32 min

Breach of duty

Breach translates foreseeable risk into an objective, contextual standard of reasonable care.

32 min

Causation — factual and legal

Causation is the law’s disciplined method for converting breach into compensable responsibility.

34 min

Remoteness of damage

Remoteness fixes the normative boundary between causal responsibility and compensable legal loss.

39 min

Defences — contributory negligence, volenti, ex turpi

Three defences test how far tort law makes claimants answer for their own wrongdoing.

32 min

Occupiers' liability

A statutory enclave within negligence, balancing control, permission, warnings, obvious risks and trespass.

38 min

Employers' liability and vicarious liability

Liability for workplace harm turns on personal duties, enterprise risk, and principled limits.

35 min

Nuisance — private and public

Private nuisance protects land-use rights; public nuisance polices collective interference with public rights.

39 min

Rylands v Fletcher

A narrow strict-liability tort best understood as nuisance’s exceptional escape-based cousin.

34 min

Trespass to the person

Trespass protects bodily liberty and integrity through strict, intentional torts of immediate interference.

39 min

Defamation

Reputation, free speech, and statutory recalibration after the Defamation Act 2013.

38 min

Privacy and misuse of private information

Privacy in English tort is judge-made, Convention-shaped, and permanently balanced against expression.

42 min

Remedies in tort

Tort remedies translate civil wrongs into money, restraint, vindication and controlled loss allocation.

38 min