Tort Law - differences between the principles of negligence and strict Essay

Tort Law - differences between the principles of negligence and strict liability - Essay Example Although this notion of liability was not quickly recognised, by the early nineteenth century, it came to be recognised that one could claim damages for negligent or wilful conduct of another contrary to law as held in Ansell v Waterhouse 1. Historical development But this was confined to a few well recognised factual situations wherein a duty had been assumed to exist. Complications arose when defendant acted in pursuance of contractual obligation. Hence, by early nineteenth century, a party to a contract could sue another party for breach of tortious duty mandated by law. Thus, it began to be recognised that a stranger to a contract could sue for damages or injury caused due to negligent conduct in the execution of a contract. For example, pedestrian being injured due to negligence of coachman. Duty existing between manufacturers, suppliers and consumers who are bound by a chain of contracts also came to be recognised in due course. Originally plaintiff could only claim under his c ontract and was barred to claim under contract he was not a party to. This meant that each of the party had to protect its own rights through separate warranties under their respective contracts. Early cases have dealt with manufacturers’/suppliers’ liability for defective goods or equipment supplied. It was often questioned whether a plaintiff not being a party to the initial contract of sale or supply could claim the warranty benefit promised by the manufacturer or suppler2. Negligence In Winterbottom v Wright3, question arose whether the plaintiff could claim for injury sustained by him due to the defendant’s negligent driving of the coach the former had hired under a contract with the Post Master General. Three judges gave opinions favouring the defendant holding that there was no privity of contract between the plaintiff and the defendant as otherwise there would be endless stream of claims coming from strangers. It is argued that the stand taken by the thr ee judges is at odds given that a pedestrian could claim from the defendant for any injury sustained by him due to negligent driving of the defendant coachman. Therefore, negligence claims have to satisfy the following the criteria. 1. The defendant must owe a duty of care towards the claimant (plaintiff). 2. That duty has been breached by the defendant. 3. The breach of the defendant has resulted in loss or damage to the claimant. 4. The loss sustained through defendant‘s negligence is not too remote or is within the scope his duty.4 Three-stage test In order to avoid frivolous claims, a three stage test was prescribed by the House of Lords in Caparo v Dickman 5 by effectively recasting the neighbourhood principle originally enunciated by Lord Atkin in Donoghue v Stevenson6, the three stage-test being 1) foreseeability of harm or loss, 2) sufficiency of proximity of relationship between the parties to the dispute, and 3) justness, fairness and reasonableness of imposing duty on the defendant/injurer in all circumstances. Thus, in Caparo, the auditors Dickman were held not liable to the claimant Caparo for their misstatement in the audited accounts of profits as ? 1. 3 m instead of an actual loss of ? 465,000 relating to Fidelity Plc. The House of Lords reasoned that auditors had no

For those not familiar with this storyline Essay Example for Free

For those not familiar with this storyline Essay For those not familiar with this storyline, Romeo + Juliet is just your average boy-meets-girl, boy-and-girl-fall-hopelessly-in-love, boy-kills-girls-cousin, girl-feigns-death, boy-and-girl-commit-suicide plot. Not one to watch with a box of chocolates and a boyfriend bonfire, but a box of tissues may well be needed. Director Baz Lehrmann chooses to set this epic in Mexico, a perfect modern backdrop for the violent gangland culture Shakespeares script conveys in a modern context. The two families-the Capulets and the Montegues- are beautifully contrasted; the lighthearted Montegues in open Hawaiian shirts, against the tight black clad Capulet boys sporting many gold accessories. These two groups of arch nemeses are, however, united by their mutual habit of openly wearing guns with such flair and style they could easily pass as a fashion accessory, rather than an accessory to murder. In the prologue the role traditionally played by the chorus is adopted by a real life U. S anchorwoman. The prologue is so turned into a news bulletin. You are literally drawn in to the film as the shot slowly zooms in on the television showing the newsreader, before the shot hurtles down a metropolitan street, dragging the audience, with trailing stomachs, behind it. Lehrmann captivates his audience from the outset with a visually stunning repeat of his prologue, utilising imagery from the whole film and conveying the entire storyline in under a minute. Contrary to what you may think, this in fact draws the viewer into the film. The imagery used in the prologue directly links to and supports the words in the scripted opening, and translates them into the modern context. Two houses, both alike in dignity is represented by two giant skyscrapers either side of a road, one bearing a huge sign saying Capulet, the other Montague. As Romeo, Dicaprio shows the full depth of his acting ability. From lovelorn-Did my heart love til now? to murderous Either thou or I or both must go with him and back down again through all the levels of shock, anxiety, and of course suicidal. Clare Danes gives a beautiful portrayal of young innocent Juliet. Her facial expressions are convincing and manage to wordlessly express every feeling perfectly. Her lines are also delivered with huge compassion and emotion. Danes along with Dicaprio shows a huge variety in her performance, keeping a wide audience interested in a script labelled by many as boring. This is not the first time modern directors have messed around with the star crossd lovers. Most notably Bernsteins all singing all dancing West Side Story, but also China Girls and-more loosely- Romeo Must Die. However, this is the first modern adaptation to stick with Shakespeares script. Lehrmann has obviously had to make cuts in the text for the sake of the length of the film, but the dialogue he leaves in is fantastically effective. This spunked up version a timeless classic engrosses a viewer of any age from the outset, and keeps its grip almost complete through to hugely moving finale. Even staunch traditionalists must see that dragging this dusty play kicking and screaming in to a twentieth century riddled with guns, drugs, and rock n roll has revived it in a way no amount of Lawrence Olivier ever could.

Free Hamlet Essays: Deception in Hamlet :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Deception in Hamlet Deceit, misleading information, and spying on others can lead to their demise, intentionally or accidentally. The misleading and deceitful instances in the play are indirectly responsible for Hamlets’ death. Claudius misleads Hamlet when he shipped him off to England under the guise of a restful retreat and when he realizes that the new king has lied to not only him, but the people of Denmark about the death of the former king. Hamlets’ deceit comes from his mother, believing that she has betrayed his father’s love by not mourning for long enough after his death, and by marrying Claudius. Spying also causes problems for Hamlet down the line since it leads to the killing of Polonius, and the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Misleading instances in the play occur frequently.The moment when the Ghost tells Hamlet that his death was not accidental and that he was poisoned by Claudius is what starts the trail of lies and murder in the play, ( I;v;74-77 ) "Thus I was sleeping by a brother’s hand†¦/†¦/ cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, unhouseled, disappointed, unaveled." Until the night of the "Mouse trap", Hamlet still has some doubt in his mind about the Ghosts words. As soon as the king reacts negatively to the plot, Hamlet is one hundred percent sure that Clauduis was deceiving the whole country about Old Hamlet’s death; (III ;ii ;267) "O good Horatio, I’ll take the ghost’s words for a thousand pound. Didst perceive?" Hamlet witnesses the king storming out of the play, showing he was affected by the death of the player king, seeing as how the he died the same way as his brother. It is also apparent that Hamlet is out to mislead the general public by putting on a false face. His "antic disposition" allowes him to act without consequence. He is able to appear mad when it is convenient for him, and this allowes him not to raise any suspicion about his actions, ( I; v; 171-172 ) "As I perchase hereafter shall think meet to put on an antic disposition on." After the killing of Polonius, his antic disposition allows Hamlet not to be held responsible. This leads to him being sent away to England under the guise of a trip for rest. Claudius once again deceives Hamlet and his mother by having an alternate agenda.

Employees are a business’s most important assets Essay

Employees are a business’s most important assets; this is why they created the Human Resource department. Its purpose is to manage, train and look after the workers of the business. It is also their responsibility to implement health and safety legislation at work and look after the employees. There are many roles that this department manages; these ultimately help the business to achieve its objectives. These include: * Manpower planning. * Recruitment and selection. * Induction and training. * Promotion and transfers. * Appraisal and termination of employment. * Rewards and conditions of employment. * Working conditions. * Career development and welfare. * Wage bargaining and disputes. An effective and efficient business manages their employees or human resources well. The better this is done, the more the workers will be happier, better motivated, more productive and more responsive. Badly managed workers are more likely to skip work, be less enthusiastic and less willing to show initiative. The HR department at Chester Zoo fulfils the responsibilities of looking after its staff according to court laws and employees’ rights. It has to deal with employee issues such as equal employment and unjust dismissal, plus in rare occasions, drug testing and â€Å"Aids in the work place†. There are several things involved in human resource, these are: * Planning how to motivate and satisfy workers. * Planning how to develop a certain organisational culture or approach in employees. * Planning how to support or develop employees, i.e. training. * Analysing current employment needs. * Forecasting the likely future demand for employees by the business. * Forecasting the likely future supply of workers that will be available to hire. * Predicting the extent to which workers leave the business. The HR department controls many important parts of the company and without it the business would collapse. There are several areas of importance that the department looks after. * Recruitment, retention and dismissal of staff. There are several stages, which the department goes through to recruit the correct person for the job. Once you’ve got the staff you need, it is very important to keep them happy and inspired about the job, this is where the task of retention comes in. Dismissal of staff can become very expensive if not done properly. Unfair dismissal could mean that ex-employees could sue the company for thousands of pounds. In the Zoo this is done on the advice of the human resources department. If the department has decided to recruit staff they would advertise and read the applications and personal statements. However the department that is looking for staff would undertake the interview. The Zoo’s HR department would do the necessary paper work and help the new employee settle into their job. Retention in the Zoo works around motivating the staff. The HR department has to find ways of motivating staff, other than money. * Training, development and promotion of staff. Through training and development the staff become more experienced and the more experienced they become, the better they’ll be able to do their jobs. Promoting staff not only saves time in having to recruit more experienced staff, but also keeps the employee happy. A disadvantage to promoting staff is that you need to recruit more, less experienced staff that then requires training. At the zoo the HR department would look at the budget and if there was enough money and the rewards out weighed the disadvantages of training then they would go ahead with it. They would also make sure that there were enough staff to cover emergencies. The Zoo’s aims to develop its staff: * Encourage them to attend and be involved in planning meetings. * Give opportunities to attend relevant training courses, conferences and seminars. * Give opportunities to visit other Zoos. * Encourage them to share experiences with other Zoo staff. The Zoo prefers to promote its existing staff, as it not only encourages everyone to work harder, but is also cheaper. * Monitoring and maintenance of good working conditions. Poor working conditions lead to employees becoming unhappy and dissatisfied with their job. Working conditions need to be high to help retain workers. The Zoo ensures that the working environment for its employees remains good by offering coaching, advice and sorting out disputes. * Health and safety. The health and safety standards must be high to keep the workers happy, but also to keep them safe from danger. If a worker had an accident at work then they could sue for thousands if it is proved to be the Zoo’s fault. At the Zoo the HR manager oversees both monitoring & maintenance of good working conditions and health & safety. * Liaison with employee organisations and trade unions. The business needs to get on well with the trade unions and employee organisations, so the groups don’t start making big demands. If the groups are happy with the business they usually don’t start asking for massive pay increases or demands which could cost a lot to the business. The Zoo doesn’t have a union; instead it has a staff association that does the same role. The human resource department has a manager; there are four different types. * Handmaidens. They help other line managers to do their work, but not in a very co-ordinated or systematic way. * Regulators. Set out and put into practice employment rules. They only set out short-term rules about how people should conduct their business at work; they do not develop an overall pattern covering long-term human relations in the workplace. * Advisers. Generally don’t get involved in managing human relations at work, leaving the line managers to do it. However if the line managers need help, the human resource manager is there to advise. * Change-makers. They want to make a deal with issues relating to motivating people. They introduce a range of related initiatives in order that the development of workers is given high priority. Chester zoo has an adviser style manager; they initiate the process of recruitment and decide whether they can afford it. They also decide if they need a full time or part time worker. If they do decide to recruit then the job of interviewing would be handed over to the head of that department, since they would know what type of person would be best for the job. The HR department has the task to make sure that the business sticks to legislation acts, because if they don’t they put the business at great risk of being sued or fined. * Equal pay act 1970. Covers the equal value for the same work performed by men and women. * Rehabilitation of offenders act 1974. Aims to help people who have served prison sentences to have a reasonable chance of securing employment following a period of rehabilitation. * Sex discrimination act 1975. Covers the basic premise that it is unlawful in employment to discriminate on the basis of sex or martial status. * Race relations act 1976. Makes it unlawful to discriminate in employment on the grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin. * Disability discrimination act 1995. Grants statutory rights to people with disabilities and gives limited protection to them. Chester zoo covers all these issues, except with some cases the disability discrimination act. They can justify that they can’t put a disabled person into the lion cage, because it would be dangerous for both the disabled person and the lion. Cages are designed to house animals in the best possible way, and incorporating disability equipment could be dangerous for the animals. Effective HR management can improve competitiveness of the Zoo by analysing the current and future needs of its workers and what other businesses are doing to recruit skilful workers. HR can improve efficiency and save money with effective operating model, e.g. by preventing accidents at work HR could promote safety at work, with the aim of cutting both on and off the job accidents. The Zoo can’t rely on a cheap labour force to keep them competitive, instead they must invest in human resources to train and develop their staff. With new technologies and IT playing a bigger role in business, they must keep up with the necessary skills to stay ahead and innovate new attractions for the Zoo. The Zoo needs to anticipate the visitors’ needs for the present time and in the future. With the help of the HR department they can analysis data and work out what the public needs are. This information can then be used to decide on new and improved attractions. Competition by other firms for workers may affect the supply of labour available to a business. If competitors offer higher wages to workers with specialist skills then a business may have to raise its wage level to recruit the staff it needs. The Zoo’s HR department has to decided where to draw the line between skilful and cheap workers. Task 2 Major conflicts can occur between the HR department functions. Below are examples of such conflicts and what the Zoo would do to sort out the situation. * Finance and the number of employees. The more employees you have the more work can get done and also the less work each employee needs to do. This makes the workers less stressed, but at the cost of employing more people. It’s a choice between more profit for the business or happier workers. At Chester Zoo if two departments wanted seasonal staff, it would be up to the human resource department to work out how many they can afford in each department. However, because the zoo is a charity, it only has a limited budget and so money is always an important factor. * Need for training and constraints of time. The more experienced and knowledgeable the workers the better and quicker they can do their job. Training workers costs money and also means that whilst they are being trained they can’t do their job. Since the job needs to carry on, with or without the worker, other employees will have to cover or temporary workers hired. Human resources have to keep within the budget so they can only allow so much training. Improving workers skills is essential to keeping them motivated, especially since their pay isn’t very high. The department has to balance these two points successfully. The Zoo is a charity and therefore has a small budget to deal with. This unfortunately could lead to the situation where little training goes on. However, the zoo has a small wage bill and therefore one of the ways in which to retain staff is to train them. It works out cheaper to train and retain staff, than recruiting new staff. * Career progression. If for example there was a promotional job and two people applied it would be up to the human resource department to tell the person who didn’t get the place feedback on why they didn’t. At the Zoo it is very important to retain staff and therefore they would tell the unsuccessful candidate what to improve on and what courses/training needs to be done. It is quite likely that the Zoo will also pay for this training; therefore next time the candidate would be in a better position. If the Zoo didn’t do this, it would have a high labour turnover and lose trained workers. * Getting the job done quickly versus health & safety. The HR department needs to make sure that the health and safety laws and legislation are being meet by all departments. A Zoo is a very dangerous environment and with wild animals means that situations will occur which wouldn’t happen in an office. If a worker had an accident at work and it was found out the HR department had failed to do its job then the worker could sue. But following health & safety regulations can slow the job down. In the induction part of a new job, the HR department at the Zoo puts great emphasis on the health & safety instructions, making sure that everyone knows them as it could mean a matter of life or death. * Personal conflict. Employees who experience conflict with each other would be sent to the HR department to smooth problems out. For example if a managing director disliked a subordinate and this affected his appraisal, then a conflict between the two could occur making the subordinate unhappy. The human resource department would then have to chat to the manager about not bringing personal feelings into work and reassure the subordinate. Conflicts in the business place could end in good workers leaving, law suits against the business and/or that company being know as a tough place to work, discouraging new people to join. The Zoo’s grievance procedure is: * Bring the problem to the attention of the line manager. * Or if the employee feels unable to do this, or feels they have not got a satisfactory result. * Bring the problem to the attention of the personnel manager. * Or if the employee feels unable to do this, or feels they have not got a satisfactory result. * Talk to a member of the staff association who will raise the issue on their behalf and accompany them to any meetings with management. The Zoo can’t afford lawsuits or bad publicity; it is quite concerned about person conflict issues and hope to resolve then as soon as possible. Neither do they want to lose workers and gain a reputation as being a bad employer. If this happens the Zoo would have to increase wages to attracted workers back, which would be bad for their tight budget. * Time keeping, commitment, sickness and holidays. If a worker was being consistently late then the human resources department would need to talk to the worker and find out what is happening and whether the issue could be resolved by them starting work 30 minutes later and adding the time to the end. Workers by law have at least some holiday time off and it is up to the human resources department to organise this. They would approve or decline holiday requests depending on whether the business can do without them for that period of time. If a worker were consistently being sick and having too many sick days then again it would be the HR department responsibility to talk to the worker and find out why and what the problem is. For example it could be a stress-related condition. The Zoo is very concerned about issues like this, as they would have to recruit more staff to deal with the work. The Zoo encourages employees to take holidays when the Zoo is closed and maybe offer more time off if they did. Conflicts might also arise between different HR management activities within the Zoo. Some of these possible conflicts include: * Training v recruitment. Training motivates staff, and ultimately training someone is meant to get them a better job. However it might be cheaper to recruit a new member of staff, rather than training an existing one. * Catering v keepers. The Zoo’s mission statement is saving animals and plants from extinction, this requires keepers to look after the animals. Caterers though aren’t needed for the animals; instead they are needed to feed the visitors. A caterer might be employed instead of a keeper just to increase profits by selling more food. * Gardening v keepers. Again gardeners aren’t a crucial to looking after animals, but they are needed to keep the Zoo looking smart and tidy. If the gardens were poor, visitors might not return, as they didn’t like environment. * Pay v holiday. This only applies to keepers. Workers who don’t take as much paid holiday might expect to get increased salaries. The Zoo wants keepers to take as little holiday as possible, as holidays would require more temporary workers. However the Zoo has limited money and therefore can’t pay as well. Task 3 Chester Zoo uses external data to work out future employment trends, how many males and females are unemployed and whether they are looking for full time or part time work. For example if the trend showed in the future there would be a growing female part time workforce, the Zoo might offer part time jobs catering towards female needs. External data can also predict whether there will be skill shortages, if so the Zoo might increase staff training or increase salaries for workers with more skills. Availability of labour locally and internationally and competition for employees can also be attained from the data. Once Chester Zoo knows what the current and future situation is they can plan how to retain and/or recruit staff in the future.

The Search for Three Truths in the United States

With the dream of liberty and the pursuit of happiness my family has immigrated halfway around the world, from Vietnam to America. My parents fled to the United States, not for them but for the unending opportunities for their children. My parents have sacrificed their whole live for their children to have freedom and a bright future, regardless of any difficulties. My parent†s sacrifices are the motivation that pushed me to higher level of education because I acknowledge the amount of pain my family underwent by coming to the United States by extracting the maximum amount of knowledge in my undergraduate studies. I felt overwhelmed when I left Vietnam for the United States because not only did I have to learn a new language, I needed to learn a new philosophy, one completely the opposite of what the communist had taught me. It wasn†t that hard to forget the corrupt philosophy and learn a new philosophy, but it takes time to learn a new language, especially during childhood. It was very difficult for a child to keep his native language and to learn a second language and expect him to fluent in both languages. So I struggled with the English language throughout my elementary and middle school, but I knew if I put effort into studying, eventually I would be able to overcome my language difficulties. I worked assiduously throughout my high school career and received almost straight A†s in Honors and AP classes. While I may not have had much opportunity for advancement or education in Vietnam, in the U.S I placed my education and future as my ambition. My family fled to the United States with a dream to search for three truths: life, liberty, and happiness. We are very fortunate to find these â€Å"truths†, however, along the way there were many hardships, difficulties and asperities. I am glad that these difficulties have occurred to my life because it made me a stronger person, a dedicated student, and person that has the capability of tacking problems to matter how great.