Symbiosis Law School, Pune

Course Title: Law of Torts including MV Accident and Consumer Protection Laws I

Course Code: T1460

Number of Credits: 2

Level: 4

Learning Objective(s):

1. To discuss the law of private rights and remedies which are not covered by statute.
2. To understand the operation of, and recognise the large potential of expansion of
this branch of law which governs actions for damages for injuries to certain kinds
of rights, like the right to personal security, property and reputation.
3. To apply the principles of Law of Torts in contemporary areas like Human Rights,
Environmental Rights, and Intellectual Property Rights.
4. To examine the differing requirements which lead to civil liability for different
torts against person and property.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course the student will be able to:

1. Explain the law of private rights and remedies which are not covered by statute.
2. Display understanding of the operation of this branch of common law and its potential
of expansion which governs actions for damages for injuries to certain kinds of rights,
like the right to personal security, property and reputation.
3. Demonstrate application of the principles of Law of Torts in contemporary areas like
Human Rights, Environmental Rights, and Intellectual Property Rights.
4. Appraise the differing requirements which lead to civil liability for different torts
against person and property.

Pre-requisites:

1. XII Standard
2. To pursue 5 year UG Law programme in any recognized centre of SIU.
3. To have suggested reading as per session plan and other resources such as
films, documentary, as provided by the course instructor
 Course Outline

Sr. No. Topic Hours

1 Introduction to the Study of Torts 04
1.1) Introduction
1.2) Nature of Tort:
1.2.1. Definitions
1.2.2. Torts v/s Law of Crimes
1.2.3. Torts v/s Law of Contract
1.3) The Conventional Basis for Imposing Liability in
Torts
1.3.1. Act and Omission
1.3.2. Mental Elements
● Intention
● Negligence
● Breach of Strict Duty
● No-fault Liability
1.3.3. Damage
● Injuria Sine Damnum
● Damnum Sine Injuria
1.3.4. Remedy
● Ubi Jus IbiRemedium
● Concept of Unliquidated Damages
1.4) Malfeasance, Misfeasance, Nonfeasance
1.5) Reception of the Law of Torts in India
1.6) Conclusion
2 Standing of a Person in Tort 03

2.1.Introduction
2.2.Locus Standi
2.2.1. Traditional Doctrine of Locus Standi in Private
Law Litigation
2.2.2. The Liberalisation of Locus Standi in Public
Interest Litigation
● Private Legal Injury to Others
● Injury to Public Interest
● Injury to Public Interest with Specific Injury
2.2.3. Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster and Class Action
● General Observations
● Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Processing of
Claims Act, 1985
● CharanLalSahu v. Union of India, 1990 1 SCC
613
2.3.Limitations of Personal Capacity
2.3.1. Who Cannot Sue?
● Convict
● Alien Enemy
● Insolvent Person
 ● Husband & Wife
● Corporation
● Foreign State
2.3.2. Who Cannot Be Sued?
● Foreign Sovereigns
● Ambassadors
● Infants
● Lunatics
● Corporations
● Persons Having Parental or Quasi-Parental
Authority
● Trade Unions
● Married Women
2.4.Conclusion
3 Justification in Tort 04

3.1) Introduction
3.2) Volenti Non Fit Injuria
3.3) Plaintiffs Default
3.4) Mistake
3.5) Act of God /Vis Major
3.6) Necessity: Private and Public
3.7) Inevitable Accident
3.8) Private Defense
3.9) Statutory Authority
3.10) Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Acts
3.11) Parental and Quasi-Parental Authority
3.12) Conclusion
4 Discharge of Torts 01
1.1.Introduction
1.2.ActioPersonalisMoritur Cum Persona
1.3.Waiver and Acquiescence
1.4.Release
1.5.Accord and Satisfaction
1.6.Statutes of Limitation
1.7.Conclusion
5 Vicarious Liability 04

5.1) Introduction
5.2) Justification for the Vicarious Liability
5.2.1. Ratification
5.2.2. Abetment
5.3) Special Relationships: Master and Servant, Principal
and
Agent, Partners
5.4) Course of Employment
5.4.1. Policy Factors
5.4.2. Test Based on Implied Authority

5.4.3. Distinction between 'Authorised Acts' and

 'Unauthorised Modes'
5.4.4. Road Traffic Cases: Detour, Deviation, and Travel
To
and From Work
5.5) Contribution between Employer and Employee
5.6) Liability for the Torts of Independent Contractors
5.7) Liability of Parents for the Torts of Their Children
5.8) Liability of State for the Acts of Its Servants in India
5.8.1. General Observations
5.8.2. Legislative Provisions
5.8.3. Judicial Decisions
● Introduction
● Sovereign and Non-Sovereign Functions
● Pre-Constitutional Decisions
● Post-Constitutional Decisions
● Cases Involving Fundamental Rights
5.9) Uncertainty of Law
5.9.1. Need for Legislation
● Law Commission of India First Report: Liability of
the State in Tort
● Suggestions
5.10) Conclusions
6 Strict Liability: 02

6.1) Introduction
6.2) The Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher
6.3) The Essentials of Liability
6.3.1. The Thing Must Be Brought On To the Defendant's
Land
6.3.2. Escape
6.4) Defences
6.4.1. Plaintiff's Consent
6.4.2. Plaintiff's Own Fault
6.4.3. Act of Third Party
6.4.4. Act of God
6.4.5. Statutory Authority
6.5) Rylands v. Fletcher and Nuisance
6.6) The Future of Strict Liability in General
6.6.1. M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 1086
6.6.2. Union Carbide Corporation v. Union of India, AIR
1992 SC
248
6.6.3. Jai Laxmi Salt Works P Ltd. v. State of Gujarat,
1994 4 SCC 1
6.6.4. Rural Indian Council for Enviro-legal Action v.
Union of
India, AIR 1996 SC 1446
6.6.5. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991
6.6.6. Conclusion
7 Remedies 04

7.1) Legal remedies -Judicial and Extrajudicial

● Judicial Remedies
● Damages: Kinds of Damages, Measures of Damages
and Remoteness of Damages
● Injunction: Kinds of Injunction
● Specific Restitution of Property
7.2) Extra-Judicial Remedies
● Self-Help
● Re-Entry on Land
● Re-Caption of Goods
● Abatement of Nuisance
● Distress Damage Feasant

8 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 04

8.1) Introduction
8.1.1. Object of the Motor Vehicles Act
8.1.2. Offences, Penalties and Procedure
8.1.3. Forum of Law
8.1.5. Jurisdiction and Limitation
8.2) Liability without Fault
8.2.1. Law Relating to Compensation to the Motor
Accident
Victims, Before and After 1956
8.2.2. Absolute Liability in Automobile Cases and the
Judicial
Pronouncements
8.3) Eighty Fifth Report of the Law Commission of India on
No-fault
Liability
8.4) Landmark cases

10 Self Learning including projects, presentations, moot 04

courts,simulation, exercises, film review, news review, field
visit,experiential learning, guest lectures
Total 30

Pedagogy:

1. Lecture
2. Discussion
3. Field visits
4. Case study
5. Guest lectures
6. Self study
7. Projects
Books Recommended:

● Pollock Frederick, The Law of Torts: A Treatise on the Principles of Obligations

Arising from Civil Wrongs in the Common Law: To which is Added the Draft of
a Code of Civil Wrongs Prepared for the Government of India”, BiblioBazaar
(2018)
● Ranchhoddas Ratanlal, ThakoreDhirajlalKeshavlal and Singh Guru Prasanna,
Ratanlal & Dhirajlal's The Law of Torts, Wadhwa& Co, Nagpur, 28th ed. (2018)
● Winfield Percy Henry, Jolowicz J.A. and T. Lewis Ellis,Winfield on Tort, Sweet
and Maxwell, (2014)
● Harpwood Vivienne, Modern Tort Law, Rutledge, (2008)
● Upadhyay Videh, Public Interest Litigation in India: Concepts, Cases and
Concerns, LexisNexis Butterworths, (2007)
● Cranor Carl F., Toxic Torts: Science, Law and the Possibility of Justice,
Cambridge University Press, (2006)
● Boston Gerald, Madden Stuart M. and Madden M. Stuart, Law of Environmental
and Toxic Torts: Cases, Materials and Problems, West Publishing Company,
(2005)
● Fowler Gregory L. and Aspatore Books, International Product Liability Law: A
Worldwide Desk Reference Featuring Product Liability Laws & Customs in 50+
Countries, Aspatore Books(2003)
● White Edward, Tort Law in America: An Intellectual History, Oxford University
Press, (2003)
● Pandey Jai Narain, Law of Torts: With Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, Central Law Publication, (2002)
● Wahl Jenny B., Economic Analysis of Tort and Products Liability Law: A
Collection of Essays & Cases Law and Economics, Routledge, (1998)
● Baxi Upendra, Dhanda Amita and Indian Law Institute, Valiant Victims and
Lethal Litigation: The Bhopal Case, N.M. Tripathi, (1990)
● Baxi Upendra, Paul Thomas, Mass Disaster and Multinational Liability: The
Bhopal Case, N.M. Tripathi, (1986)
● Menon N.R. Madhava, Documents and Court Opinions on Bhopal Gas Leak
Disaster Case, National Law School of Indian University, (1991)
● Salmond John William, Salmond on the Law of Torts, Sweet & Maxwell, 16th
Edition, (1973)
● David K. Allen, et. al., “Damages in Tort”, Sweet & Maxwell, 1st Edition
(2000).
● Richard Owen, Essential Tort Law, Cavendish Publishing, 3rd Ed. (2000)
● Salmond Heuston, The Law of Torts, Universal Law Publishing Co. Ltd., (2004)
● Ramaswamy Iyer, The Law Of Torts, Lexis Nexis, 10 th Edition (2007)
● Paula Gliker, “Vicarious Liability in Tort A Comparative Perspective”,
Cambridge University Press (2010).
● Street on Torts by John Murphy & Christian Witting, 13th Edition, Oxford
University Press, (2012), Pg 25-67.
● Emily Lynch Morissette, Personal Injury and the Law of Torts for Paralegals, 4th
Ed., Wolters Kluwer (2017)
● Steele Jenny, Tort Law: Text, Cases & Materials, Oxford University Press, 4th
Ed. (2017)
Research Papers/Articles recommended for reading:

● B. Lindsay, Fostering in a new age of vicarious liability? Edinburgh Law

Review, University of Glasgow, Vol. 22(2), 294-301 (2018) (Source:
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/162381/1/162381.pdf)
● Michael S. Moor, The Strictness of Strict Liability, Criminal Law and
Philosophy, Vol. 12(3), 513–529 (Sep. 2018) (Source:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11572-017-9438-5)
● Paula Giliker, Vicarious Liability in the UK Supreme Court, The UK Supreme
Court Yearbook, Appellate Press Ltd., Vol. 7, 152-166 (2016) (Source :
https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/102062403/Professor_Paula_Gili
ker_Vicarious_Liability_in_the_UK_Supreme_Court_2016_7_The_UK_Supre
me_Court_Yearbook_152.pdf)
● Ashok H. Desai & S. Muralidhar, Public Interest Litigation: Potential and
Problems, B.N Kirpal et. al. eds., Supreme But Not Infallible- Essays in Honour
of the Supreme Court of India, International Environmental Law Research
Centre (Oxford University Press) (2000) (Source:
http://www.ielrc.org/content/a0003.pdf)
● Hazel Carty, The Economic Torts And English Law: An Uncertain Future, Ky.
LJ 95 (2006), (Source:
http://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/kentlj95&sec
tion=31)
● Richard A. Posner, Strict Liability: A Comment, The Journal of Legal Studies,
Vol. 2, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), 205-221, The University of Chicago Press for The
University of Chicago Law School (Source: http://www.jstor.org/stable/72403).
● Steven Shavell, Strict Liability versus Negligence, The Journal of Legal Studies, 1-25,
Vol. 9(1) The University of Chicago Press for The University of Chicago Law School
(Jan., 1980), https://www.jstor.org/stable/724036
● Steve Hedley, Death and Tort, 241-259 (Source:
http://www.stevehedley.com/essays/death.pdf)
● P.M. Bakshi, The Law of Torts, 598-601, (Source:
http://14.139.60.114:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/713/22/The%20Law%20o
f%20Torts.pdf)
● James T. Bayorgeon, Tort Liability of a Parent to a minor Unemancipated Child
for Willful and Wanton Acts, Marquette Law Review, Vol. 41 (2), 1957 (Source:
https://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.
google.co.in/&httpsredir=1&article=2996&context=mulr)
● Liability of State in Tort, Law Commission of India, First report (1956) (Source:
http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/1-50/Report1.pdf)
● Edwin Borchard, Government Liability in Tort, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 34
(1) (Nov., 1924), 1-45 (Source:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/788496?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
● Two Types of Invasion and Fault, Australian Law Reform Commission (Source:
https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/5-two-types-invasion-and-fault/fault%E2%
80%94intentional-or-reckless)
● Ram Singh, Economics of Judicial Decision Making in Torts Law: Motor
Accidents Cases, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39 (25) (Jun. 2004),
2613-2616 (Source: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4415176).
● Amy G. Doehring McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Chicago, Blurring the
Distinction between Contract and Tort: Courts Permitting Business Plaintiffs to
 Recover Tort Damages for Breach of Contract, Business Torts Journal, Vol.
12(2), (2005) (Source: http://www.mwe.com/info/pubs/aba05.pdf)
● Theories of the Common Law of Torts, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Dec. 17, 2015 (Source: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/tort-theories/)
● Suzanne E. Turner, Good Samaritan Laws: A Comparative Study of Laws That
Protect First Responders Who Assist Accident Victims, The Thomson Reuters
Foundation & Dechert LLP, (May 2014) (Source:
https://www.trust.org/contentAsset/raw-data/7be34cce-ea0d-4c90-8b39-53427a
cf4c43/file)
● Fred Smith, Local Sovereign Immunity, Columbia Law Review, Vol. 116, No. 2
(Mar. 2016) 409-87 (Source: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43744120).
● Alex Stein, The Domain of Torts, Columbia Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 3, (Apr.
2017), 535-611 (Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44177165)

Suggested Assessment/Evaluation Methods:

All external courses will have 40% internal component and 60% external
component [University] examination. Methodology of Internal Assessment will be
at least 4 components from the following list of assessment methods:

● Seminar Presentations

● One written test

● Viva Voce

● Case analysis and open problems

● Quiz

● Essays

● Projects

● Moot court mock trial,

● Objective structured clinical examinations

● Work based Assessment

● Multiple choice Questions

● Short Answer Questions

● Learning logs/ diaries

● Reflective practice Assignments

Benchmarked against similar courses in other national/ international universities
/organizations

S. Name of the Course Name of University where it is

No. offered

1. Law of Torts NLSIU, Bangalore

2. Law of Torts NALSAR, Hyderabad

3. Law of Torts WBNUJS, Kolkata

4. Law of Torts GNLU, Gujarat

5. Law of Torts NLU, Delhi

6. Law of Torts NLU, Jodhpur

Name of
Members

Designation

Org. / Inst.

Signature

Name of
Experts

Designation

Org. / Inst.

Signature

Signature of Dean:

Date: