Tort law worksheet with answers

Which defence applies when the claimant voluntarily accepted the risk of harm?

1. AVolenti non fit injuria (consent)
2. BSelf-defence
3. CContributory negligence
4. DNecessity

Trespass to land means:

1. ABuilding a house on your own land
2. BMaking noise on your own land
3. CEntering or remaining on another's land without permission
4. DSelling land without a contract

In English law, the difference between libel and slander is that:

1. ALibel concerns companies and public bodies, while slander concerns private individuals
2. BLibel is in permanent form, while slander is in a temporary form such as speech
3. CLibel is a crime, while slander is a tort
4. DLibel must be true, while slander must be false

A cricket ball is hit out of a ground very rarely and injures a passer-by. In Bolton v Stone, the club was:

1. ANot negligent, because the risk was very small
2. BStrictly liable for anything leaving the ground
3. CNegligent, because the injury was foreseeable
4. DNegligent, because it did not stop playing cricket

In a claim for psychiatric harm, a "secondary victim" must usually show:

1. AA close tie of love and affection and closeness in time and space to the event
2. BOnly that they suffered a recognised psychiatric illness after hearing of the event
3. CThat they were paid to be present
4. DPhysical injury of their own

A surgeon fails to warn a patient of a small risk of a serious complication. The patient would have had the operation anyway, but later. The risk materialises. In Chester v Afshar, the House of Lords held:

1. AThe surgeon was liable only for the cost of the operation
2. BThe surgeon was not liable, as the "but for" test failed
3. CThe patient consented, so there was no claim
4. DThe surgeon was liable, modifying normal causation principles

Intruders start a fire in an empty, locked cinema, which spreads to neighbouring buildings. The owner did not know of earlier break-ins. In Smith v Littlewoods, the owner was:

1. ALiable, because occupiers must guard against all intruders
2. BStrictly liable under Rylands v Fletcher
3. CNot liable, because it had no knowledge of the risk
4. DLiable, because fire spreading is always foreseeable

An internal auditor with a grudge against his employer leaks staff payroll data online. In WM Morrison Supermarkets v Various Claimants (2020), the Supreme Court held the employer:

1. ANot vicariously liable, as he was pursuing a personal vendetta
2. BVicariously liable, as data breaches are strict liability
3. CVicariously liable, as he had access to the data through his job
4. DLiable only to staff whose data was used for fraud