Principles of Tort Law

Print and online chapters

Principles of Tort Law is comprised of 28 chapters in total, 18 of which are print chapters and a further 10 of which are available as online chapters at the accompanying Online Torts Hub (available at www.Cambridge.org/Mulheron).

The print chapters focus upon those particular areas which tend to arise commonly in Torts curricula in England and Wales. In addition to a detailed consideration of the tort of Negligence, the print chapters also cover particular manifestations of negligence (viz, the Occupiers’ Liability Act regimes, and the law associated with Public Authority liability) and some separate torts altogether (viz, Defamation, Private Nuisance, the Rule in Rylands v Fletcher and the torts encompassed by Trespass to the Person). Vicarious liability, a strict liability doctrine which forms an important part of the modern Torts curriculum, is also included as a print chapter.

The online chapters, on the other hand, deal with torts, or issues arising from Tort Law, which do not feature as commonly in Torts curricula, but which nevertheless may arise for student consideration from time to time. Of course, some Torts curricula do incorporate the study of particular manifestations of negligence, such as the statutory regimes enacted for defective products and for damage caused by animals, and also consider wider torts such as Public Nuisance, Privacy or the statutory tort of Harassment. The online chapters fully cater for that type of Torts curriculum. Additionally, the often tricky concepts associated with multiple defendants in Tort, and the issues to do with when a tortious cause of action ‘accrues’, limitation periods, and when a defendant's liability in tort ends, are also dealt with in the online chapters. The online content may also assist students who are studying aspects of Tort as part of other law modules (such as Media Law, Public Authorities and the Law, or Medical Negligence Law), or who are studying such issues for the purposes of mooting, writing research essays, legal advice clinic work and the like.

Occasionally, a section of a print chapter is excised from that chapter and is available online. For example, some of the categories of defendants for whom a duty of care has been a legal issue (e.g., barristers, parental liability for their children's negligence, parental liability to their children and regulators/inspectors/certifiers) are contained in Chapter 2 as online content only.