Assessed essay: Law of Tort

In order to establish whether a claimant is owed a duty of care by a defendant, it is necessary to look at: the legal duty that originally exists, for example, of A’s actions towards B, and to what extent this duty extends; whether that duty was breached in that it did not meet the required legal standard; and how the breach of any duty that exists affected the claimant, for example, how A’s conduct affected B . This three-stage test is used by the courts to establish whether plaintiff is owed a duty of care by the defendant, and ultimately whether this action is punishable under the law of tort.

The history of psychiatric harm is a muddled one, with many developments being in recent years, this is due to the often unclear nature of psychiatric illness, or ‘nervous shock’ as it is referred to. The courts have been sceptical about the ‘authenticity’ of claims for psychiatric harm , and did not want to risk ‘opening the floodagtes’ by allowing cases for nervous shock ...