Question

1- What is common law and how is it created?

2- What are statutes and how do statutes orginate?

3- What is the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor?

4- What is a tort?

5- What are the elements of the tort of negligence?

6- What is strict liability and to what type of cases does it apply?

Answer 1

1. Common laws are the ones who are created by the judges, based in the earlier court decisions ( precedents). These cover te cases which are not there in the acts of parliament.

2. Statutory laws are created by the judiciary or a law making body through defined process. These are written laws  and can be created by the judiciary on national, local or state level.

3.Felony is a serious crime and might lead to severe punishments like life sentences. The crimes like murder, armed robbery or assault count under felony. Misdemeanour is a less serious crime which involves theft, pickpocketing and vandalising. It attract lesser fine and penalty as compared to felony.

4. Tort is a civil wrongdoing that results in harm to the other party.

5. The elements of tort of negligence are

(i) dzefendant owed a duty of care towards the plaintiff.

(ii) The duty was breached due to negligence.

(iii) The act of breach harmed the plaintiff.

(iv) Breach was the only cause of the harm.

6.Strict liability is  atort which holds other party liable for its actions or the products / services produced by it, without the plaintiff being able to prove the fault of defendant. Example of strict liability is a person getting electric shock from an electrical appliances which was termed perfectly safe for operation by the manufacturer.