Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sem2 - L1 - Occupiers Liability 1
Sem2 - L1 - Occupiers Liability 1
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Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957
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Who is an Occupier?
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Who is a Visitor?
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Nature and Extent of the Duty.
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Children, Skilled Visitors and
Independent Contractors
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Impact of Warnings
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Occupiers’ Liability Act 1984
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Tort Law & Civil Remedies
2. occupiers’ liability
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Learning numbers as opposed to names of cases
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Learning how to ‘dissect’ elements of each provision – what is
important, what do you need to understand meaning of, and why?
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When case law helps you to interpret meanings
Revill v Newbery
[1996]
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Mr Newbery 76 year old man who suffered
frequent break ins to his shed on his
allotment. Slept in shed with a shotgun.
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Mr Revill tried to break in and Newbery shot
through a hole in his shed. It hit Revill in the
arm and chest.
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Liable in civil action but damages reduced by
2/3 due to contributory negligence
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However claim successful under ordinary
negligence rather than occupiers liability.
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The fact that he was an occupier was not
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3. The 1957 Act
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3. Who is an occupier?
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The 1957 Act gives no definition so it is
necessary to examine the common law -
the appropriate test is:
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Occupational Control Test
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Where a person has a sufficient degree of
control over the premises then they will
owe a duty of care to those lawfully on the
premises.
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CASE LAW
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4. Who is a visitor?
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Express
permission
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Guests, customers
etc
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Permission can be
withdrawn
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Must give
reasonable time to
leave property
Operation of Law
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S2(6) right
conferred by law
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With or without
permission
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Police, firefighters,
paramedics etc
Implied Permission
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Permission can be
implied by
circumstance or
conduct
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Door-to-door sales
persons, delivery
personnel, people
taking metre
readings etc
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Will legally be
classed as visitors
Not Included
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Rights of way
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A person using a public right of way (e.g
walking down the street) not considered
visitor
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McGeown v Northern Ireland Housing
Executive
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Would create impossible burn on
landowner to maintain
Walkers/Ramblers
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Countryside and Rights of
Way Act 2000 provides a
general right to walk over
open land which falls under
the description of ‘mountain,
moor, heath or down’
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Right to roam
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Not classed as visitors for
purposes of occupiers
liability, but are covered
What do they need to
• occupy?
Must occupy premises
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‘’Premises’ defined in s(1)3 of
1957 Act
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Land, buildings, any ‘fixed or
moveable structure’, vessel,
vehicle or aircraft
EXTENT OF PERMISSION
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If permission is abused then this may
amount to a trespass.
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It is also possible to be a visitor for some
purposes but not for others (see The
Calgarth (1927)
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Scrutton LJ: ‘When you invite a
person into your house to use the
staircase, you do not invite him to
slide down the bannisters, you invite
him to use the staircase in the
ordinary way.’
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Anderson v. Coutts [1984] 58 JP
369 – fell off cliff after climbing
over railings despite warnings.
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6. Nature of duty
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NATURE OF DUTY
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Defendants not required to
provide absolute safety, but to
take reasonable care.
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One way of taking reasonable
safety precautions is to
provide warnings.
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Darby v National Trust –
dies from drowning in pond,
claimed should have had
warning signs. Courts held
that it was an obvious risk.
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7. Type of visitor
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7. Type of visitor: children
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Children may not be able to appreciate
danger and they are also naturally
curious.
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7. Children – case law
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7. Type of visitor: skilled visitor
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But…
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Ogwo v Taylor – Defendant
negligently set fire to house,
claimant was firefighter who
was injured.
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The blaze was such that no
amount of care by the
claimant could have protected
him and so defendant was
held liable
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8. Impact of warnings
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8. Impact of warnings
S.2(5) provides
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8. Independent contractors
S.2(4)(b) 1957 Act provides that the
general rule is that occupiers will not be
liable for the negligence of independent
contractors.
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Defences
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Contributory Negligence
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Volenti
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Warnings under S2(4)(a)
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Exclusion clauses – but not for death or
personal injury
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consolidation
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Preparation
Preparation for next week
ü
Read through the lecture handout for
this session
ü
Access the worksheet for the
Workshop and complete the pre-
workshop preparation tasks
ü
Make sure you come to the
Workshop prepared!
ü
Access the presentation slides for next
week’s large group session
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