UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND ENERGY STUDIES COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIESDEHRADUN
LEGAL METHOD AND LEGAL REASONONGMASS TORT: BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDYSUBMITTED TO - SUBMITTED BY -Ms. Shikha Dimri NAME- ANJALI BHATT SAP ID- (500012004) SEC - A COURSE – BBA LLB
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
What is a tort?
Difference between a crime and a tort.
Constituents of tort
General
Wrongful act
Damage
Remedy
Classifications of tort
Mass tort
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
History of Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal
Trial of Bhopal Gad incident
Group of ministers
The Receding Prospects of Justice for Bhopal
Misplaced Commentary
Latest news on the case
ConclusionINTRODUCTIONWHAT IS A TORT?
Tort means a breach of some duty independent of contract giving rise to a civil cause of action and for which compensation is recoverable. The person committing a tort or wrong is called a tort feasor or wrong doer, and his misdoing is a tortious act. The principal aim of the law of torts is compensation of victims or their dependants.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CRIME AND A TORT
Tort is an infringement or privation of the private or civil rights belonging to individuals whereas a crime is a breach of public rights and duties which affect the whole community.
In tort, the wrongdoer has to compensate the injured party whereas, in crime he is punished by the State in the interests of the society.
In tort, the action is brought by the injured party but in crime, the proceedings are conducted in the name of the State and the guilty person is punished by the State.
CONSTITUENTS OF TORT
General
Wrongful act
Damage
Remedy
General
The law of torts is fashioned as “an instrument for making people adhere to standards of reasonable behavior and respect the rights and interests of one another”.
By “ interest” here is meant “a claim, want or desire of a human being or group of human beings which the human being or the group of human being seeks to satisfy.” It is however, obvious that every want or desire of a person cannot be protected nor can a person claim that whenever he suffers loss he should be compensated by the person who is the author of the loss.
3
The law, therefore determines what interests need protection and it also holds the balance when there is a conflict of
1
G.Williams, The aims of the Law of Torts, (1951) 4 Current Legal Problems, 137.
2
SETALVAD, Common Law in India
protected interests.
A protected interest gives rise to a legal right which in turn gives rise to a corresponding legal duty. Some legal rights are absolute in the sense that mere violation of them leads to the presumption of legal damage. There are other legal rights where there is no presumption and actual damage is necessary to complete the injury which is redressed by the law.
Wrongful Act
An act which infringes a legal right is a wrongful act. “The act complained of should, under the circumstances, be legally wrongful as regards the party complaining; that is, it must prejudiciallyaffect him in some legal right; merely that it will, however directly, do him harm in his interest isnot enough.”
An act which, prima facie, appears to be innocent may become tortious, if it invades the legal right of another person. A familiar instance is the erection on one’s own land of anything which obstructs the light to a neighbour’s house. It is, no doubt, lawful to erect what one pleases on one’s own land; but if by twenty years’ enjoyment, the neighbor has acquired the legal right to the unobstructed transmission of the light across that land, the erection of any building which substantially obstructs it is an invasion of the right, and so not only does damage, but is unlawful and injurious.
Damage
“Damage” means the harm or loss suffered or presumed to be suffered by a person as a result of some wrongful act of another.
The sum of money awarded by court to compensate “damage” is called “damages”.
3
“But acts or omissions which any moral code would censure cannot in a praccal world be treated so as to give a right to every person injured by them to demand relief. In this way rules of law arise which limit the range of complaints and the extent of their remedy.”
4
For example: privileged occasions, where the interests of the person defamed in his reputaon is subordinated tothe interest of the person defaming in the exercise of freedom of speech on these occasions.
5
Rogers v. Rajendro Du, (1860) 8 MIA 103 (136) : 13 MOORE PC 209. An empty threat to prosecute is not aconable : Banwari Lal v. Municipal Board, Lucknow, (1941) OWN 864 : AIR 1941 Oudh 572 : 1941 OLR 542.