MAJOR RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

In Minister Administering the Environmental and Planning Assessment Act 1979 v San Sebastian [1983] 2 NSWLR 286 at 295-296, Glass JA of the NSW Court of Appeal gave the different meanings of reasonable foreseeability when establishing duty of care, breach of duty of care and remoteness of damage in the tort of negligence. However, he did not suggest any meaning for reasonable foreseeability in the context of causation (except in its remoteness of damage aspect).

More directly, in Chapman v Hearse (1961) 106 CLR 112 at 122 the judgment of five judges of the High Court said that "the term ‘reasonably foreseeable' is not in itself a test of ‘causation' ". Providing authority for your answers from case-law and legislation wherever possible, discuss whether reasonable foreseeability had then, or has now, any role in establishing causation in the tort of negligence and in particular:

(1) how far Australian courts have required reasonable foreseeability as a necessary factor in establishing factual causation and the extent to which that has been changed by the provisions of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (W.A.) and amendments thereto ("the CLA");

(2) how far Australian courts have required reasonable foreseeability as a necessary factor in establishing scope of liability under causation, particularly in view of their decisions on novus actus interveniens, and the extent to which their requirements have been changed by the CLA;

(3) how far Australian courts have considered remoteness of damage to be an issue covered by scope of liability in causation and the extent to which that has been established by the CLA following the recommendations of the Ipp Report.

LENGTH OF RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT, CITATION AND NON-DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE

Your research assignment must not exceed 1,500 words, inclusive of footnotes and quotations, but exclusive of your bibliography. Marks may be deducted for any research assignment in excess of this prescribed word limit. You should clearly mark your word count on the front page of your research assignment. Your research assignment should adhere to the citation standards prescribed by the Australian Guide to Legal Citations, 3rd edition. It should also avoid the use of discriminatory language. For further information, please refer to the Unit Plan for LAW1117.

PURPOSE AND BASIS OF THE ASSESSMENT

This research assignment is worth 20% of your total assessment in LAW1117. It is intended to encourage you to think about the principles underlying three of the main elements in the tort of negligence. This should develop your ability to carry out informed and independent legal research of primary and secondary legal materials, a generic skill essential to the study and practice of law. Your research assignment will be assessed on your demonstrated competence regarding these expected learning outcomes. In particular, your assignment must demonstrate your understanding of the above principles.