10. The Law of Torts in the Twentieth Century: Expansion and Collapse of the Tort of Negligence
10. The Law of Torts in the Twentieth Century: Expansion and Collapse of the Tort of Negligence
The tort law of negligence was thoroughly fragmented in the 19th century. This chapter shows how, in the 20th century, the practice moved in the direction of theory as the tendency towards fragmentation was reversed. Detailed duties of care were superseded by a single duty of care. The component parts of the tort—duty, breach, remoteness—increasingly merged into each other. Moreover, it no longer seemed self-evident that there should be a link between legal liability and wrongdoing, with the result that the idea of negligence as a failure to take the care that would have been taken by a reasonable man began to degenerate back to an undifferentiated notion of blameworthiness.
Keywords: tort law, negligence, duty, breach, remoteness, duty of care
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