Social Challenges and Risk regarding Principles of Tort Law

Recommended Prerequisites

Law of Obligations. Proficiency in French and English.     

Teaching Methods

Presentation of themes, followed by discussion.

Presentation of reports resulting from personal research.

Learning Outcomes

Students are expected to realize the evolution of society and the need for legal answers, in particular the emergence of strict liability as a result of industrialization. They are also expected to study tort law and confront the legal solutions with current problems of society in order to question whether there is any need for change. The main issue is the study of the modern general clauses of strict liability. The goal is to provide the students with a culturally cohesive perspective along with the specific skills for a critical evaluation.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. The origins of tort law and later developments. The importance of fault in the context of civil liability

2. The suitability of tort law based on fault regarding the necessities that arise from industrialization

3. The Risk Theory: origins and grounds

4. Fault Liability and Strict Liability: a dialogue with tort law goals

5. The modern general clauses of strict liability

6. The different models of strict liability: socialization of the responsibility?

Head Lecturer(s)

Ana Mafalda Castanheira Neves Miranda Barbosa

Assessment Methods

Assessment
participation in discussions of the seminars: 20.0%
Research work: 80.0%

Bibliography

Jorge SINDE MONTEIRO, Estudos sobre a Responsabilidade Civil, Coimbra, 1983

Geneviève VINEY, Le Déclin de la Responsabilité Individuelle, Paris, 1965.

René SAVATIER, Comment Repenser la Conception Française Actuelle de la Responsabilité (extrait du Rec. Dalloz Sirey), Paris, 1968.

Mafalda MIRANDA BARBOSA, Estudos a propósito da responsabilidade civil, Princípia, 2014 (no prelo)

Mafalda MIRANDA BARBOSA, Responsabilidade subjectiva, responsabilidade objectiva e sistemas securitários de compensação de danos : brevíssimas notas a propósito das lesões causadas pelo profissional de saúde, Boletim da Faculdade de Direito, Vol. 87, 2011. p. 559-576

Mafalda MIRANDA BARBOSA, Do nexo de causalidade ao nexo de imputação : contributo para a compreensão da natureza binária e personalística do requisito causal ao nível da responsabilidade extracontratual, 2013

NILS JANSEN, Die Struktur des Haftungsrechts, Mohr Siebeck, Tubingen, 2003