ABSTRACT
The law of tort is a fundamental area of English law and, in addition to being a ‘core’ subject for the legal profession, a clear understanding of its principles is required for other areas as diverse as employment law and company law. It illustrates, moreover, another characteristic of English law, in that it is primarily a common law area-that is, its rules have been developed through the decisions of the courts rather than being laid down by statute. As a result of this, the student of the law of tort is faced with a bewildering array of cases and rules, and often finds difficulty in deciding what information is relevant to a problem.
