Whilst it cannot be denied that tort law is a complex subject, it is far from uninspiring. Understanding tort law has significant practical value; this area touches on so many aspects of our everyday life – workplace injuries, car accidents, privacy on the internet, trespass on land, to name a few. Having an understanding of the way that tort law works provides an important starting point for any law student (and budding lawyer) to understand the relationship between legal principles and everyday life.
Tort law also raises a number of interesting theoretical questions about morality, responsibility and living in a community. Why do we protect some rights (such as bodily integrity) more than other rights (for example, financial success)? Why are employers held liable for the torts committed by others? What are the rights and responsibilities of occupiers of land? Do you have to be morally at fault to be held legally liable? Viewing tort law studies and the multiple causes of actions covered by the syllabus through the framework of these broader theoretical questions can help to ‘breath life’ into the legal principles, showing students why tort law is such a fundamental and foundational law subject.
One of the most difficult aspects of tort law is the fact that it is frequently assessed used problem questions (or hypotheticals). These questions require students to ‘act as a lawyer’ and provide an answer in the form of advice about the potential success of various tortious claims. Assessment in this format is unique to law and understandably can be daunting for students who have often never written in this form in their previous studies.
When approaching this type of question, students need read the facts carefully, identifying the correct issues and potential tort law causes of actions. They then need to apply the legal principles associated with that tort to the facts, coming to a conclusion about the potential liability of the parties involved. It is important that students recognise legal ‘grey areas’ but that they come to some sort of conclusion; as a lawyer you cannot simply say to a client “I don’t know”! More detailed advice on answering problem questions is available here. If students are still struggling, Green and Gardner’s Tort Law starts each chapter with a sample problem question, designed to be similar to assignments or exam questions. The chapter then features ‘Problem Question Technique’ boxes throughout the material, which guides students to both the relevant law and how to answer the question.
Tort law is generally not limited to problem questions, and most assignments or exams will also include essay questions that require students to think about tort law and the role it plays in our society. When answering these questions, it is important to provide more than mere description of the law and to provide your own views on the legal and theoretical issues raised. This can be daunting for law students – but your lecturers really do want to here what you think and what you have to say!
For this exercise, it is very helpful to go beyond the textbook readings and cases – we recommend students read journal articles or book chapters on the topic to get a broader understand of that area. Go beyond telling us the law and instead analyse, critique and examine the issues raised by that area of tort law. Examples of descriptive writing compared with analytical writing, can be found here. To provide practical help with this exercise, Green and Gardner’s Tort Law includes multiple ‘Different Perspectives’ boxes in the chapters, which have easy to understand summaries of key academics’ writings on the different topics. The textbook also offers different ‘Viewpoints’ in each chapter, which engage in the tort law debates and challenges, providing a range of questions, designed to be like those students might encounter in assessments.
Tort is a fascinating subject that covers a wide range different legal and theoretical issues that we face every day. I hope that you can utilise these tips and resources to survive, succeed – and hopefully enjoy – your tort law studies!
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