The law should be changed in order that compensation for personal Essay

The law should be changed in order that compensation for personal injury accidents is not based on the proof of fault - Essay Example There are three types of damages available under the tort law i.e. nominal, compensatory and punitive damages. Nominal damages are a symbolic reward and are awarded to the plaintiff where no actual harm is proven but liability for a tort is established. Punitive damages are awarded to punish and discourage egregious behavior. These are mostly awarded when a tort is proven to be committed with malice. The compensatory damages are awarded as indemnification for personal injury, property or an economic harm sustained by the victim. Compensatory damages have been under great criticism and are a topic of constant debate as there is no monetary equivalent for mental distress and pain. The â€Å"proof of fault† is an important element of tort law. It is an issue that requires attention and review. Before discussing it in detail, some problems of the law of tort are briefly discussed because the change in the system of â€Å"proof of fault† might be able to do away with these p roblems too. One of the major problems is that of lack of adequate damages. It is justifiable to award damages in respect of an economic loss because it is calculable. But there is no scale on which damages for pain and suffering can be calculated. It is probably due to this fact that the Courts award huge sums as damages in such cases. But these damages become excessive liabilities on the defendants. In Young v. Glasgow Tramway and Omnibus Company (Limited)3, the claimant was granted such damages which seemed excessive to the defendant. His motion for a new trial was denied and it was held that the damages were not excessive. In this case, Lord President Inglis explained that in order to grant a new trial for excessive damages, it must be established that the damages awarded are so extravagant that no other jury would repeat it.4 This was not the case here. In this case, it is very difficult for a third party to determine whether justice is served or not because there is no scale w hich can make a pecuniary measurement of the pain and suffering of a person. Cooter and Porat discussed the issue as to what should be the procedure of measuring the compensation for negligence by doctors and drivers.5 According to them, the Courts often follow a system of probability and percentage. The probability pertains to the probability that harm might be caused. The types of potential harms caused by the two parties are very different from each other as there is a contractual relationship between the doctors and patients and there is no such relation between the drivers and the victims. According to Cooter and Porat, there is a need to bring externalities into consideration while determining the amount of compensation. There is a possibility that there may be some externalities that prevent the defendants from the performance of their duty to care. The

Interest of Tree Growth along the Tagliamen River Statistics Project

Interest of Tree Growth along the Tagliamen River - Statistics Project Example Site A was the furthest upstream site, with the other sites following in an alphabetical order to the seventh, site G. Measurements were taken in two sessions; the first in 2005 and the second in 2010. 140 measurements were taken in each of the two sessions. The average tree height was 304.75 cm (std. dev. = 28.67), with the tallest being 407cm and the shortest 247 cm. The average trunk diameter for the 180 trees was 2.12 (std. dev. = 0.55), with the thickest being 5.0 cm and the thinnest 1.1 cm. The average number of annual growth rings was 8.38 (std. dev. = 3.38); the maximum is 20 and the minimum 3. Based on the ‘river data’, measurements of the various components of the river’s waters were done between the 65th and 90th years. The 90th year had the most measurements, with 19 (6.8%) occurring in that year. The 71st year had the least number of measurements (1, 0.4) recorded. Through the years, June and November recorded the lowest number of measurements taken ( 20, comprising 7.2% for each) while July and December recorded the highest number (26, comprising 9.3% for each). Most measurements were taken on the 1st day of any month (96, translating to 34.4%) while none were taken on the 21st and 25th days. The average depth of the water in the river was 0.389m (std. dev. = 0.147), with the deepest measurement taken at 0.782m and the shallowest 0.036m. The average discharge rate was 10.663m3/s (std. dev. = 4.203), with the highest rate reported at 22.653m3/s and the lowest at 3.751 m3/s. The research sought to investigate the research question: is there the significant positive correlation between the depth of water in the river and the rate of discharge reported? Correlation analysis was undertaken. The test hypothesis is: The Pearson correlation coefficient was statistically significant (Ï  = 0.764, p < 0.001). The null hypothesis was rejected at the 5% level of significance.