Atiyah's Accidents, Compensation and the Law (The Law in Context Series) Book

Preface     xiv
List of abbreviations     xvii
List of tables     xxii
Table of legislation     xxiii
Table of cases     xxviii
The Issues in Perspective
Introduction: surveying the field     3
Compensation for accidents     3
Natural and human causes     6
The issue     6
Society's 'responsibility' for human causes     8
Protecting reasonable expectations     9
Egalitarianism and the problem of drawing the line     10
Mixed systems in a mixed society     11
Some facts and figures     18
Accidents causing personal injury or death     18
Death and disability from other causes     20
The prevalence of disability     21
The effect of disability on income     21
Distribution and sources of compensation     22
The more serious and the less serious     25
The Tort System in Theory
Fault as a basis of liability     33
The conceptual basis of tort law     33
Negligence as a basis of liability     34
The fault principle     35
Negligence as fault     36
A question of fact?     36
The nature of negligence     40
Probability of harm     42
Likely magnitude of harm     43
The value of the activity and the cost of the precautions needed to avoid harm     45
The function of the negligence formula     46
Foreseeability     47
The objective standard of care     48
Negligence in design and negligence in operation     50
Conduct of the claimant     53
Contributory negligence     54
Volenti non fit injuria     61
Illegality     65
The scope of the tort of negligence     68
The nature of the duty of care     68
Specific duty situations     70
Common situations in which duties of care have been imposed     70
The distinction between acts and omissions     72
Nervous shock     84
Family claims     89
Departures from the fault principle     92
Fault liability and strict liability     92
'Procedural' devices     94
Breach of statutory duty     95
Contractual duties     99
Rylands v. Fletcher, nuisance and animals     100
Joint liability     101
Vicarious liability      102
Products liability     103
Proposals to extend strict liability     105
Dangerous things and activities     105
Railway accidents     106
Ex gratia compensation schemes     107
Vaccine damage     107
HIV     108
Hepatits C     108
Variant CJD     109
Causation and remoteness of damage     110
Introduction     110
Factual causation     111
Proving causation     111
Causing and increasing the risk of harm     112
Omissions     115
Multiple causal factors     116
Limits on the liability of factual causes     118
Legal causation     118
Damage not within the risk     125
Foreseeability again     127
Conclusion     129
Damages for personal injury and death     130
The lump sum: predicting the future     130
Personal injury cases     130
Fatal cases     132
Variation of awards after trial     135
Suitability of lump sums     137
Alternatives to lump sums     139
Full compensation      143
Interest     145
Lost earnings and support     146
Medical and other expenses     149
Full compensation for lost 'earnings': is it justified?     152
The earnings-related principle     152
The hundred-per cent principle     156
Full compensation: the commitment in practice     157
Intangible losses     161
Assessing intangible losses     161
The tariff system     166
Subjective factors     170
Should damages be payable for intangible losses?     171
Overall maxima     173
Punitive damages     173
An appraisal of the fault principle     175
The compensation payable bears no relation to the degree of fault     175
The compensation bears no relation to the means of the tortfeasor     177
A harm-doer may be legally liable without being morally culpable and vice versa     179
Collective liability     179
The objective definition of fault     180
Moral culpability without legal liability     182
The fault principle and popular morality     183
The fault principle pays little attention to the conduct or needs of the victim     183
Justice may require payment of compensation without fault     185
It is often difficult to adjudicate allegations of fault     187
The fault principle contributes to a culture of blaming and discourages people from taking responsibility for their own lives     192
The Tort System in Operation
Claims and claimants     201
Accident victims and tort claimants     201
Cases reaching trial     201
Cases set down for trial     203
Actions commenced     203
All tort claims     204
Why do people (not) make tort claims?     206
Some research findings     206
Alternative remedies     207
Claims consciousness     209
Particular types of claims     214
Road accidents     214
Industrial injuries and illnesses     216
Public liability claims     218
Medical injuries     219
Group claims     221
Tortfeasors and insurers     222
Defendants     222
Individuals as tort defendants     222
Employers and corporations as tort defendants     228
Insurers     233
The nature of liability insurance     234
Some problems of liability insurance      239
First-party insurance for the benefit of others     244
The impact of liability insurance on the law     245
Statutory provisions     245
The impact of insurance on the common law     248
The Motor Insurers' Bureau     255
Trials and settlements     260
The importance of settlements     260
Obtaining legal assistance and financing tort claims     261
The course of negotiations     268
Individual claims     269
Group claims     274
When negotiations break down     278
The time taken to achieve a settlement     281
The amount of compensation     284
Other Compensation Systems
First-party insurance     291
Types of first-party insurance     291
First-party insurance compared with tort liability     295
Compensation for criminal injuries     300
Tort claims     300
Compensation orders     301
Other sources of compensation     303
Criminal injuries compensation scheme     304
Justifications for the Scheme     304
The scope of the scheme     309
Comparison between the CICS and tort liability      316
Administration     324
Claims consciousness     326
The social security system     328
Foundations of the social security system     328
Workers' compensation     328
National insurance     330
The Beveridge Report and the 1946 Acts     331
Developments since 1946     333
The industrial injuries system     338
The scope of the system     338
Accidents and diseases     340
Benefits     342
Administration     351
The tort system and the IIS compared     355
Non-work-related disablement     355
Preferences within State provision for the disabled     356
Income-support benefits     358
Benefits     358
Administration     360
Fraud and abuse     360
Other forms of assistance     363
The taxation system     363
Social services     365
Employment     366
Mobility     369
Housing and residential accommodation     370
Other social services     371
Conclusion     372
The Overall Picture
A plethora of systems      377
The concept of over-compensation     377
The choice of compensation system     378
Subrogation and recoupment     380
Tort damages and other compensation     385
General principles     385
Tort damages and sick pay     387
Tort damages and personal insurance     388
Tort damages and charitable payments     389
Tort damages and social security benefits     390
Criminal injuries compensation     394
The cost of compensation and who pays it     395
The cost of tort compensation     395
Costs not paid through the tort system     402
The cost of social services     402
The cost of the social security system     403
Other sources of compensation     405
Costs in perspective     405
The cost of criminal injuries compensation     406
The functions of compensation systems     408
Compensation     408
Some preliminary questions     408
The meaning of 'compensation'     411
Compensation and compensation systems     414
Distribution of losses     415
What should be distributed?     415
How should it be distributed?     416
The allocation of risks     418
Punishment     419
Corrective justice     421
Vindication or satisfaction     422
Deterrence and prevention     424
Rules and standards of behaviour     425
Accident prevention via insurance     433
General deterrence     439
The basic idea     439
Ascertaining the costs of an accident     442
Allocation of costs to activities     442
Responsiveness of price mechanism     446
Applying general deterrence criteria in practice     448
General deterrence and existing systems     448
An assessment of the value of the general-deterrence approach     453
Conclusions about general deterrence     457
The Future
Accident compensation in the twenty-first century     461
Where we are now and how we got here     461
Basic issues     467
Strict liability or no-fault?     467
Limited or comprehensive reform?     468
Preferential treatment     472
Assessment of compensation     474
Funding     477
Goals of the system     478
Proposals and schemes     484
Road accident schemes     484
Other schemes     487
The way ahead     488
A social welfare solution     488
A private insurance solution     493
Damage to property     495
The role of the insurance industry and the legal profession     496
Index     499