Unpicking torts: Elements, standing requirements and conditions of actionability

In-person event

There is a fashion for thinking about torts in terms of recipes: as causes of action made up of a fixed set of ingredients. It is fashion that has adherents in both judicial and juristic circles. Typically, the things that a plaintiff must demonstrate in order to sue in tort are referred to as ‘elements’ of a tort. But sometimes one comes across talk of the plaintiff’s need to satisfy either a ‘condition of actionability’ or a ‘standing requirement’.

This change in language when referring to what the plaintiff must show is ostensibly perplexing. It naturally raises the following questions: (1) how, do the three concepts come apart, and (2) what significance can be attached to any differences between them? These are the questions with which this paper wrestles.

The first contention advanced in the paper is this: while elements and conditions of actionability are in fact discrete juridical entities, standing requirements are not. The second is that recognising the difference possesses considerable practical and theoretical significance.

About the speaker:

Professor John Murphy (The University of Hong Kong)

John Murphy is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong. He was educated in England and holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law. John specialises in the law of torts, and he has authored two monographs in the field: The Law of Nuisance (Oxford University Press, 2010) and The Province and Politics of the Economic Torts (Hart Publishing, 2022). For over a decade he was the editor of Street on Torts , and for even longer he has been one of small group of editors responsible for the production of Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, the leading practitioner work on tort law.

Commentator: Professor Peter Cane (Sydney Law School)

Thursday 1 June 2023

Time: 6-7.30pm AEST (Seminar from 6-7pm, with refreshments served afterwards)

Venue: Level 4, Common Room, New Law Building (F10), Eastern Avenue, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

This event is proudly presented by Sydney Law School at The University of Sydney.