Construction, Public Bodies and Liability in Negligence: Fair, Just and Reasonable?

Philip Britton

May 2001

A paper based on the second prize winning entry in the Millennium Hudson Prize Competition, presented to the Society of Construction Law in London on 1st May 2001.

The author considers what remedies are available against public bodies if in exercising their statutory powers affecting construction they cause damage, injury or loss. He looks at the tort liability of public bodies a decade or more after Murphy v Brentwood District Council.

Introduction – Contract and tort claims (issue 1) – Other tort claims (issue 3) – Claims in negligence: the 1990s – Effect on claims against public bodies – Escaping the limitations of Murphy – Claiming in negligence, but via Hedley Byrne – Claims in contract? – Claims in negligence: the millennium approaches – Enter European human rights law – Other recent cases – Further case law from Strasbourg – Conclusions.

The author:. Philip Britton LLB BCL is Director of the Centre of Construction Law & Management, King’s College London.

Text 21 pages.

PDF file size: 169k

Author
Philip Britton
Publication year
2001