Essay On Tort Law

Tort is a civil wrong. It is an act or omission that causes someone else to suffer loss or harm resulting in legal liability for the person who committed the act. The outburst of environmental statues forty years back gave rise to the field of environmental laws. This has created a significant question in our legal system relating to how this new field of law intersects with the common law of torts. Defining the correct role of tort in remedying environmental injuries is an important matter of public concern.

The present paper tries to analyse the application of torts principles in matters concerning environmental risks. The non-codified law i.e. the torts law follows English law in almost all aspects. It continues to apply here by virtue

Tort law deals with the remedy for invasion of private rights of the individual and is concerned with compensating the person whose right has been infringed. Tort basically looks into two components i.e. the harm and the compensation. Its true potential in protecting the environment can be better studied as:

• Tort comes into existence when something has gone wrong. In case of environment, it appears on the scene when the damage has been caused to environment.

• It is driven more towards cure rather than prevention.

• It involves reparation and not punishment.

• The law of torts focuses on wrong outcomes affecting person or property.

• Tort liability is basically fault based liability which here means negligence. The pre-condition of foreseeability of harm is pre-condition of liability under the case “Rylands vs

Here, “reasonableness” of the defendant’s conduct is the main question. The relief for the aggrieved party in case of private nuisance can be injunction as well as damages. In Kuldip Singh vs Subhash Chandra Jain case, the plaintiff i.e. Subhash Chandra Jain feared that the baking oven and 12 feet long chimney built by his neighbour would constitute nuisance when the factory commences its operations. The Trial Court held that the operation of the oven would cause in emitting smell and generating heat and smoke which when put together will constitute the tort of nuisance. But, the apex or Supreme Court made a distinction between the present and future nuisance. It was then found that the plaintiff’s apprehension about the smoking oven the next door causing nuisance was not justified and it dismissed the