Where modules run over two terms as a 30 credit module, SIL students will attend and be assessed on the contents of term 1. Please note that some modules reflect this with an additional "A" in their module code, but this is not the case for all of them due to special assessment arrangements for SIL students.
All assessments are graded on a pass/fail basis.
REGULATION AND TORT (LAWSG145)
Credit value: 15 credits (6 ECTS) |
Module Convenor:
Professor Maria Lee |
Other Teachers:
Professor Paul Mitchell |
| Intercollegiate teaching: No |
| Teaching Method: 10 x two-hour seminars |
| Who may enrol: LLM students, SIL students, Other UCL Masters students |
| Prerequisites: None |
| Barred module combinations: None |
| Core module for specialism: Public Law, Legal History, Environmental Law and Policy |
| Assessment |
| Practice Assessment: 1,500 word practice essay |
| Assessment method for UCL Master students: 3,000 word coursework essay |
| Assessment method for SIL students: 3, 000 word coursework essay |
| Module Overview |
Module summary
This module explores the relationship between regulation and tort. Public or collective goods (such as industrial health and safety, food safety, environmental protection, the security of the economic system) are generally addressed by complex and more or less comprehensive systems of state and supranational regulation. But this is also the realm of private law, since individual rights or interests (eg property, physical integrity, amenity) may be affected by the regulation itself or by a regulated activity. This modules examines what happens when these areas of law meet, particularly how the regulatory decision should feed into the determination and protection of rights and interests in private law. The interface between tort and regulation is rarely examined in legal scholarship or legal practice. But in an increasingly heavily regulated world, it is crucial. |
Module syllabus
What is regulation? - What is tort? - Workmens’ compensation - Industrial litigation - Products safety and products liability - Financial interests: gambling - Emerging technologies: transport and GMOs - Land use: nuisance and permitting - The media and privacy |
Recommended materials
There is no single text book for this module; students will be expected to read from a range of primary and secondary material. Students will find it useful to refer to Lunney and Oliphant, Tort Law: text and materials (OUP, 2010, 4th edition) |
Preliminary reading
Don’t worry if you don’t get through all of this, and note that the full reading list will be available on moodle well before the end of term 1.
Maria Lee, ‘Safety, regulation and tort: fault in context’ (2011) 74 MLR 555
Paul Mitchell, ‘Problem Gambling and the Law of Negligence’ (2010) Torts Law Journal 1
Lunney and Oliphant:
Chap 1 section II only (Tort theory)
Chap 8 (pure economic loss)
Chap 11 section III only (product liability)
Chap 12 (nuisance)
Chap 14 (privacy) |
Other information
Note that you do not need a common law background in order to take this course, although we will use and analyse English law in most cases. |
| Prizes for this module: There are currently no prizes available for this module. |
