2007 Handbooks

Advanced Torts aims to give students an opportunity to explore topics which are not covered in basic Torts courses, such as defamation; to take an in depth look at important areas like negligence in specific contexts eg medical malpractice (wrongful birth and wrongful life, pre-birth/preconception injury), and education settings (bullying in schools, educational malpractice); to examine emerging torts or novel applications for existing torts, such as in the areas of privacy, sexual injury including harassment, Wilkinson v Downton; to explore toxic torts including tobacco litigation, and various pharmaceutical/ therapeutic products which have been the subject of mass tort claims or class actions. The course stresses the dynamic nature of tort law and its capacity to respond to social change in a variety of ways. Students are encouraged to adopt a creative and critical perspective, and to think about how the law of torts might look in the future, as well as to master the current law. To this end, the course adopts a comparative perspective, including readings from Canada, the UK, New Zealand, USA, and other jurisdictions as well as Australian material.