A CENTURY OF TORT LAW IN CANADA: WHITHER UNUSUAL DANGERS, PRODUCTS LIABILITY AND AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT COMPENSATION?

Abstract

The reticence of Canadian courts to substantively develop tort law beyond the ambit of English precedent, coupled with a conservative legislative approach, has often left Canadian tort law looking more English than the English. What is needed, then, is for more Canadian judges to adopt the audacious approach demonstrated by Justice Roach in Atkinson v. Fleming. On the other hand, tort law may soon be rendered superfluous by burgeoning social welfare legislation, changing insurance practices and other institutional alterations. Allen M. Linden explores unusual danger, product liability and automobile accident compensation, three important areas of personal injury law, in light of competing winds of change that will either galvanise or desiccate Canadian tort law.