Tort Law and Human Rights (Hardcover, 2nd edition)

Reviews

"THE SCOPE AND REMEDIAL FRAMEWORK OF TORT EXPLAINED" by Phillip T. - 15 May 2017

THE SCOPE AND REMEDIAL FRAMEWORK OF TORT EXPLAINED AS A NEW HUMAN RIGHTS LANDSCAPE EMERGES IN 2017 An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers It’s amazing how quickly legal matters can change! And so, it’s the case with this excellent new edition of Professor Jane Wright’s book on tort and human rights. In her Preface, Jane talks of Mrs May as the new PM and a possible British Bill of Rights but such conversations have been thrown into the air by the general election of June 2017 and what the new government will do once the new Parliament is opened. All we can do at present then is “wait and see” but we do have this splendid statement for the time being on where we were in mid-2016 on tortious liability and human rights. And, of course, tort remains such a fascinating part of the common law- a cornerstone great to teach and even more fascinating to deal with in practice: Wright’s book makes our task all the easier! Hart Publishing have completely revised and expanded the second edition for 2016. They have expanded the first edition with the two principal aims being set out as the mission statement for readers: “to elucidate the role that domestic tort principles play in securing to citizens the human rights standards laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights, including the new 'remedy' under the Human Rights Act 1998; and to evaluate tort principles for compliance with those standards”. Jane Wright wrote the first edition when the Human Rights Act 1998 had just come into force. It was a new piece of legislation and many questions were being raised as to its potential impact on tort law, that most “human” of the substantive law areas as far as some of us are concerned. Some answers to many questions raised at the turn of the century continue to come forward at a time of threatened change so we welcome the second edition with more to follow. The author’s main point when the 1998 Act arrived as “what impact the HRA would have on the development of common law tort principles”. Two questions continue to be posed: first, to what extent would the HRA impact on relations between non-state actors as a result of the designation of the court as a public authority under section 6 of the HRA (the so-called “horizontal effect” question; and second, what impact would the HRA have on the development of common law principles in cases brought against public authorities, given that a claim for the violation of ECHR rights could now be brought against a public authority under section 7 of the Act. The settled law in this area remains remarkable unsettled, alas, as we continue to await threatened reforms (shortly) but we have the benefit, meanwhile, of Professor Wright’s timely and opportune moment whilst she takes stock of modern tort law and human rights as change is mooted but unimplemented. The book has been updated to reflect developments to date. As the author says, “whether it is appropriate to attribute particular goals and functions to tort law is highly contested and the analysis begins by locating the discussion within these contemporary debates”. Wright specifically reviews the extent to which the action against public authorities under section 7 of the Act has impacted on the development of common law principles, as well as the issue of horizontal effect of the Act between non-state actors. Two new chapters on 'A Human Rights Based Approach to Tort Law' (chapter 2) and 'Public Authority Liability and Privacy – From Misuse of Private Information to Autonomy' (chapter 8) are included, but reading this work makes us realize that it is clearly a matter of “work in progress” so we look forward to a new edition once the party-political landscape settles in the summer of 2017. But, as usual, don’t expect anything too soon! The law has been stated as at 1st June 2016 and is available as a book, pdf and an ebook.