Eduqas A-Level Law A150QS
Parliamentary and European Law Making
Delegated Legislation
Statutory Interpretation
Judicial Precedent
The Civil Courts and Civil Process
The Criminal Process
Legal Personnel
Access to Justice and Funding
Contract: Rules and Theory of Contract LawContract
Contract: Essential Requirements and FormationContract
Contract: Express and Implied TermsContract
Contract: Misrepresentation and Economic DuressContract
Contract: Discharge of ContractContract
Contract: RemediesContract
Tort: Rules and Theory of Tort LawTort
Tort: NegligenceTort
Tort: Occupiers' LiabilityTort
Tort: Torts Connected to LandTort
Tort: Vicarious LiabilityTort
Tort: Defences and RemediesTort
Criminal Law: Rules and TheoryCriminal
Criminal Law: General Elements of LiabilityCriminal
Criminal Law: Offences Against the PersonCriminal
Criminal Law: Property OffencesCriminal
Criminal Law: Capacity DefencesCriminal
Criminal Law: Necessity Defences and Preliminary OffencesCriminal
Human Rights: Rules and TheoryHuman rights
Human Rights: Protection of Rights and Freedoms in the UKHuman rights
Human Rights: Convention ProvisionsHuman rights
Human Rights: Restrictions on Convention RightsHuman rights
Human Rights: EnforcementHuman rights
Human Rights: ReformHuman rights
Tort: Defences and Remedies
- 9 subtopics
- 27 things to know
- Components 2 and 3
- Law of Tort, one of four areas of which three are studied
What Tort: Defences and Remedies covers
Tort: Defences and Remedies is examined in Components 2 and 3, if tort is one of the three areas you sit. It covers volenti non fit injuria: the elements of the defence, volenti, rescuers and employees, volenti in road traffic cases and the defence of illegality, contributory negligence and the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, applying contributory negligence: seat belts, children and emergencies, defences and remedies in claims connected to nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher, compensatory damages in tort, assessing personal injury damages and mitigation of loss and injunctions and other remedies in tort.
Where it is assessed
Components 2 and 3
Substantive Law in Practice and Perspectives of Substantive Law, if this is one of your three areas.
Check the Eduqas specification ↗The 9 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Volenti non fit injuria: the elements of the defenceVolenti non fit injuria and effect of volenti succeeding.Open →
- Volenti, rescuers and employeesWhy a rescuer is not treated as having consented — Haynes v Harwood against Cutler v United Dairies — and how rarely the defence succeeds against an employee.Open →
- Volenti in road traffic cases and the defence of illegalityDann v Hamilton and the passenger who knew the driver had been drinking, the bar section 149 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 puts on volenti, and the illegality defence in Pitts v Hunt.Open →
- Contributory negligence and the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945The old all-or-nothing rule, the apportionment section 1(1) introduced, and what a defendant has to prove — carelessness that contributed to the damage, not necessarily to the accident.Open →
- Applying contributory negligence: seat belts, children and emergenciesThe Froom v Butcher tariff of 25 and 15 per cent, the crash helmet variation in Capps v Miller, accepting a lift from a drunk driver in Owens v Brimmell, and the age-adjusted standard for a child.Open →
- Defences and remedies in claims connected to nuisance and Rylands v FletcherWhich general defences run against these claims and which do not, why contributory negligence is so rarely argued, and when a court will price the harm in damages rather than order an injunction.Open →
- Compensatory damages in tortAim of an award of compensatory damages in tort, special damages and general damages.Open →
- Assessing personal injury damages and mitigation of lossMultiplicand in a claim for future loss of earnings, periodical payments order and advantages of periodical payments over a lump sum.Open →
- Injunctions and other remedies in tortProhibitory injunction, mandatory injunction and interim injunction.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Are state benefits and insurance payments deducted from a personal injury award?
What test applies to an application for an interim injunction?
What does volenti non fit injuria mean?
Why is a rescuer generally not treated as consenting to the risk?
What did Dann v Hamilton [1939] decide?
What was the position on contributory negligence before 1945?
What reductions did Froom v Butcher [1976] set for failing to wear a seat belt?
What is the aim of an award of compensatory damages in tort?
What must a defendant prove to establish volenti non fit injuria?
What did Haynes v Harwood [1935] decide?
What does section 149 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 provide?
What does section 1(1) of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 provide?
What happens where a seat belt would have made no difference?
Which general defences may be raised against a claim connected to nuisance?
Which case states the compensatory principle?
How is an award for personal injury divided up?
When is an injunction sought in a claim in tort?
Is knowledge of the risk by itself enough for volenti?
What did Cutler v United Dairies [1933] decide?
Why did Parliament restrict volenti in road traffic cases?
Is contributory negligence a complete defence today?
What did Capps v Miller [1989] decide?
How does volenti apply to a claim connected to nuisance?
What are special damages?
How are damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity assessed?
What is a prohibitory injunction?
Take Tort: Defences and Remedies further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Nominal damages vs Contemptuous damages
Nominal damages: marking a right infringed without loss. Contemptuous damages: marking a claim that deserved no bringing.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What does volenti non fit injuria mean?
Model answer
Volenti non fit injuria means that no injury is done to a person who consents. The defence is a complete answer and defeats the claim entirely.
- 2
What must a defendant prove to establish volenti non fit injuria?
Model answer
The defendant must show that the claimant knew of the precise risk. The defendant must also show that the claimant voluntarily agreed to run that risk.
- 3
Is knowledge of the risk by itself enough for volenti?
Model answer
Knowledge of a risk is not the same thing as agreement to run it. Smith v Baker and Sons [1891] held that a worker who knew stones were swung overhead had not consented.
- 4
What were the facts of Smith v Baker and Sons [1891]?
Model answer
A quarry worker was injured when a stone fell from a crane swinging rock over his head. The House of Lords rejected volenti, because working on under protest was not true agreement.
- 5
Must the claimant's agreement be express?
Model answer
Agreement may be express or implied from the claimant's conduct. An implied agreement must still show a real choice to accept the risk.
- 6
What did ICI Ltd v Shatwell [1965] decide?
Model answer
Two shot-firers ignored safety regulations and tested detonators without taking cover, injuring each other. The House of Lords allowed volenti, because they had freely agreed between themselves to run a known risk.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Tort: Defences and Remedies revision questions
- What does Tort: Defences and Remedies cover in Eduqas A-Level Law?
- 9 subtopics: volenti non fit injuria: the elements of the defence, volenti, rescuers and employees, volenti in road traffic cases and the defence of illegality, contributory negligence and the law reform (contributory negligence) act 1945, applying contributory negligence: seat belts, children and emergencies, defences and remedies in claims connected to nuisance and rylands v fletcher, compensatory damages in tort, assessing personal injury damages and mitigation of loss and injunctions and other remedies in tort. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Tort: Defences and Remedies organised?
- By the Eduqas A150QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Tort: Defences and Remedies, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.