Tort

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1915

Principle established: Passing off protects the property in the business or goodwill likely to be injured by misrepresentation (Lord Parker).

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 2012

Principle established: A plaintiff in an action for declaration of title must succeed on the strength of their own title and not on the weakness of the defendant's title.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1884

Principle established: A near relative or close friend may warn a woman about the character of a man she plans to marry.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1973

Principle established: A landlord's acceptance of rent with knowledge of a tenant's breach constitutes a waiver of the breach as a matter of law, regardless of the landlord's subjective intent.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1865

Principle established: Justification succeeded where the statement was true in substance, though inaccurate in a detail (the length of a prison term).

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1924

Principle established: A claim for trespass fails if the disputed land is not within the property owned by the plaintiff or was validly acquired under statutory powers by the state.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1951

Principle established: In malicious prosecution, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving absence of reasonable and probable cause, and malice is necessarily inferred when the prosecutor knowingly suborns perjured evidence.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1950-56

Principle established: In malicious prosecution, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving absence of reasonable and probable cause, and malice is necessarily inferred when the prosecutor knowingly suborns perjured evidence.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts

Principle established: An independent contractor decides for himself how the work is done.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1962

Principle established: Damages for a constructive total loss of a vehicle are measured by the pre-accident market value minus salvage value, plus the reasonable cost of hiring a substitute.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1962

Principle established: Damages for a vehicle destroyed as a constructive total loss equal its pre-accident market value less scrap value, plus the cost of hiring a temporary substitute for a reasonable period.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1972

Principle established: Where words can carry meanings beyond the dictionary sense, the claimant must set them out in the pleadings.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: A magistrate must consider the whole of the evidence before refusing to commit an accused for trial, and any person aggrieved may appeal questions of law.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1975

Principle established: The court asks: is there a serious question to be tried? Would damages be an adequate remedy? Where does the balance of convenience lie?

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1921

Principle established: A public officer does not ratify an unlawful subordinate arrest merely by briefly detaining the person to prepare a summons and arranging lawful conveyance.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1914

Principle established: A public officer does not ratify an unlawful arrest by a subordinate merely by detaining the person briefly to prepare a summons and sending them home in company with a constable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1978

Principle established: Lord Wilberforce's two-stage test: (1) sufficient proximity/foreseeability; (2) any policy reasons to negate or limit the duty.

Ghana · 2024

Principle established: Review jurisdiction is sparingly exercised and will be dismissed if the applicant fails to demonstrate an exceptional circumstance or a fundamental error in the original judgment.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1722

Principle established: A finder has a right to the thing against everyone except the true owner.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: Even if a driver improperly enters a street, an oncoming driver remains under a duty of care to avoid a collision if it can be averted by ordinary care.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: A driver owes a duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid a collision even when another vehicle has wrongfully entered the roadway.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1961

Principle established: An appellate court will not interfere with a trial court's assessment of damages unless the figure is so generous as to show it was assessed on a wrong principle.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1966

Principle established: Words are read in their natural and ordinary meaning, as reasonable people would understand them (Diplock LJ).

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1957-60

Principle established: A presiding election officer with a duty to maintain order at a polling station may use necessary force without committing assault to remove a person who refuses to behave.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1988

Principle established: Psychiatric harm caused by witnessing damage to property may be actionable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1957

Principle established: A public nuisance materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of a class of the public. The class need not be every member of it.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1920-36

Principle established: Goods supplied to an infant for trading are not necessaries, and infancy is an absolute bar to an action even if the contract was induced by fraudulent misrepresentation of age.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1973

Principle established: Express malice is any wrong or corrupt motive, or using the occasion for an indirect purpose.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1959

Principle established: Words like 'thief, ex-convict' shouted during a fight were mere vulgar abuse.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1955

Principle established: The defense of inevitable accident need not be specially pleaded and is open under a plea of no negligence, and an unpleaded ground may be considered on appeal if justice warrants.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1950-56

Principle established: A defendant may raise inevitable accident under a plea denying negligence without pleading it specifically, and an appellate court may consider unpleaded points if justice requires and the respondent has notice.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1920-36

Principle established: Words imputing professional incompetence, financial bankruptcy, or dishonourable conduct to a professional person are defamatory and actionable per se.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1920-36

Principle established: Damages for defamation are categorized into contemptuous, nominal, substantial, and exemplary awards depending on plaintiff injury, conduct, and the necessity of vindication.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1950

Principle established: The maxim does not apply where the cause of the accident is known.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1969

Principle established: The 'but for' test: the claimant must show that but for the breach the damage would not have occurred.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1681

Principle established: Trespass to land does not need an intention to trespass. It is enough that the entry was voluntary; a mistake about ownership is no defence.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1950-56

Principle established: A writ of possession requires proof of service and disobedience, and execution executed without lawful authority constitutes a tort where damages are assessed as against a private wrongdoer.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1900

Principle established: Acts outside the class of acts the servant is employed to do are not in the course of employment.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1972-73

Principle established: In a negligence claim against a manufacturer, the burden of proof is not discharged if the evidence shows the injury was equally consistent with causes other than the defendant's negligence.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1957

Principle established: An animal of a dangerous species (ferae naturae) is treated as dangerous whatever the individual animal is like. The keeper is strictly liable.