[法学]美国侵权法讲义.doc

Tort Law Outline Primary concern w/ torts – whether one whose actions harm another should be required to pay compensation for the harm done Goals of Tort System promote efficient/safe behavior through incentives/disincentives make people whole; put them in place as if accident wouldn’t have occurred The tort system helps compensate people in areas where insurance and the government does not. What is a Tort? person v. person, instead of person v. state (civil, not criminal) compensation being sought injured person must bring suit, state won’t determining liability, not illegality creates incentives for good behavior can provide punitive damages mostly in state courts Negligence Negligence – failure of a D to take reasonable care to protect a reasonable P. Elements: D had a duty D breached that duty/std of care D caused the injury (actual and proximate) P was injured, there are legally compensable damages Negligence – conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm For most negligent actions, an act is negligent only of the actor fails to use reasonable care. An actor is req’d to use reasonable care that a reasonable, prudent person in his position, with his info and competence, would recognize necessary to prevent an unreasonable risk of harm to another. Note: reasonable care is the ordinary standard of care requirement, this standard can be also be “no duty” or a heightened duty (discussed further in standard of care section). Various ways for determining reasonable activity are also discussed in detail in the “standards of care” section (pg6) Torts became and important and large part of the law in the late 19th century b/c the machines created by the industrial revolution led to several unintentional injuries. Prior to the industrial revolution, there were no exact rules for strict liability or negligence. Hammontree v. Jenner (pg 3) Court of Appeal of California, 1971 Facts: Jenner (D) r