3.1 Tort law as a general liability rule
English tort law is one of the three main sources of liability in English law. The complete origin of the law of torts is out of the scope of this thesis, but in short: there are many torts under English law, and they have each developed certain requirements for certain factual situations.(1) Van Dam, European Tort Law, 101; Jones M A et al., Clerk & Lindsell on Torts., paras 8–01. Nowadays, a claimant can disclose certain facts for which there is a legal remedy, i.e. a cause of action. Thus, a tort law liability is based upon a duty owed to someone and arises from the breach of this duty.
Even though, and as mentioned above, there are many causes of action under English tort law, the tort of negligence eventually developed into a general liability rule.(2) Ibid, 103. This has led the courts to limit the scope of liability by imposing certain requirements of the tort of negligence.(3) Jones M A et al., above no 49., paras 8–03. These four requirements are firstly, the existence in law of a duty of care situation. Secondly, there has to be a breach of the duty of care by the defendant. Thirdly, there must be a causal connection between the defendant’s careless conduct and the damage, and finally, that the particular kind of damage to the claimant is not so unforeseeable as to be too remote.
It is therefore necessary to further establish what a duty of care situation implies and when this arises in order to make the assessment of whether such a duty might be present for shipowners or others selling their vessels for scrap.