Tort: Occupiers' Liability

What Tort: Occupiers' Liability covers

Tort: Occupiers' Liability is examined in Components 2 and 3, if tort is one of the three areas you sit. It covers occupiers, premises and the meaning of control, lawful visitors under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, the common duty of care owed to visitors, child visitors and the principle of allurement, skilled visitors and persons exercising a calling, independent contractors and the occupier's position, warnings, exclusion of liability and defences to a visitor's claim, trespassers and the duty under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984 and the standard owed to trespassers and defences under the 1984 Act.

The 9 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Occupiers, premises and the meaning of controlWheat v E Lacon on who occupies, multiple occupiers, occupation without ownership, how widely premises is defined, and the line between the state of the land and the activities carried on there.Open →
• Lawful visitors under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957Express visitor and of an implied visitor, implied licence and position of a person using a public right of way.Open →
• The common duty of care owed to visitorsThe section 2(2) duty to keep the visitor reasonably safe for the purpose of the visit, not to make the premises safe — Laverton, Rochester Cathedral and the ordinary risks of everyday life.Open →
• Child visitors and the principle of allurementSection 2(3)(a) and the higher standard owed to the young, the allurement cases from Glasgow Corporation v Taylor to Jolley v Sutton, and how far Phipps v Rochester lets an occupier rely on a parent.Open →
• Skilled visitors and persons exercising a callingSection 2(3)(b) and the risks a tradesperson is expected to guard against, Roles v Nathan on the chimney sweeps, and the firefighter cases that show where the subsection stops.Open →
• Independent contractors and the occupier's positionThe section 2(4)(b) escape and its three conditions, Haseldine on technical work an occupier cannot check and Woodward on work an occupier can, and what Bottomley added about competence.Open →
• Warnings, exclusion of liability and defences to a visitor's claimWhen a section 2(4)(a) warning is enough to discharge the duty, the difference between warning and excluding, and the limits the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 put on exclusion.Open →
• Trespassers and the duty under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984Who counts as a trespasser, the common humanity duty Herrington created, and the three conditions in section 1(3) that have to be met before any duty is owed at all.Open →
• The standard owed to trespassers and defences under the 1984 ActDischarging the duty by warning or discouragement under section 1(5), the section 1(6) volenti provision, and the obvious-danger line drawn by Ratcliff v McConnell and Tomlinson v Congleton.Open →

What you need to know

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Take Tort: Occupiers' Liability further

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Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Who is an occupier for the purposes of the Occupiers' Liability Acts?

   Model answer

   The Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 does not define an occupier. Wheat v E Lacon and Co Ltd [1966] supplied the test of control. An occupier is anyone with a sufficient degree of control over the premises.

2. 2

   What were the facts of Wheat v E Lacon and Co Ltd [1966]?

   Model answer

   A paying guest fell down an unlit staircase in a public house run by a manager for a brewery. The House of Lords held that both the brewery and the manager were occupiers, because each had a degree of control.

3. 3

   Can there be more than one occupier of the same premises?

   Model answer

   Two or more people may each be an occupier of the same premises at the same time. Each occupier owes a duty measured by the control that person actually had.

4. 4

   Does an occupier have to own the premises?

   Model answer

   Ownership is not required, because the test is control rather than title. A tenant, a manager or a contractor in charge of a site may all be occupiers.

5. 5

   What did Harris v Birkenhead Corporation [1976] decide?

   Model answer

   A council served a compulsory purchase notice on an empty house but never secured it, and a child fell from a window. The Court of Appeal held the council was the occupier, because it had the legal right to control the house.

6. 6

   How does the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 define premises?

   Model answer

   Section 1(3) of the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 covers any fixed or movable structure. Premises therefore include a vessel, a vehicle and an aircraft as well as land and buildings.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Tort: Occupiers' Liability revision questions

What does Tort: Occupiers' Liability cover in Eduqas A-Level Law?

9 subtopics: occupiers, premises and the meaning of control, lawful visitors under the occupiers' liability act 1957, the common duty of care owed to visitors, child visitors and the principle of allurement, skilled visitors and persons exercising a calling, independent contractors and the occupier's position, warnings, exclusion of liability and defences to a visitor's claim, trespassers and the duty under the occupiers' liability act 1984 and the standard owed to trespassers and defences under the 1984 act. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Tort: Occupiers' Liability organised?

By the Eduqas A150QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.