Beyond the ‘Tomlinson Trap’: Analysing the Effectiveness of Section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006

One of the intentions underpinning section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006 was to provide reassurance to individual volunteers, and voluntary organisations, involved in what the provision called ‘desirable activities’ and including sport. The perception was that such volunteers, motivated by an apprehension about their increased vulnerability to negligence liability, and as driven by a fear of a wider societal compensation culture, were engaging excessively in risk-averse behaviour to the detriment of such socially desirable activities. Academic commentary on section 1 of the Compensation Act 2006 has largely regarded the provision as unnecessary and doing little more than restating existing common law practice. This article argues otherwise and, on critically reviewing the emerging jurisprudence, posits the alternative view that section 1, in practice, affords an enhanced level of protection and safeguarding for individuals undertaking functions in connection with a desirable activity. Nonetheless, the occasionally idiosyncratic judicial interpretation given to term ‘desirable activity’, potentially compounded by recent enactment of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015, remains problematic. Two points of interest will be used to inform this debate. First, an analysis of the then House of Lords’ decision in Tomlinson and its celebrated ‘balancing exercise’ when assessing reasonableness in the context of negligence liability. Second, a fuller analysis of the application of section 1 in the specific context of negligence actions relating to the coaching of sport where it is argued that the, albeit limited, jurisprudence might support the practical utility of a heightened evidential threshold of gross negligence.

Book review: Chinese business in the making of a Malay state, 1882-1941: Kedah and Penang

Review of Chinese business in the making of a Malay State, 1882-1941: Kedah and Penang, by Wu Xiao An (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003)

Michael Schratz / Johanna F. Schwarz / Tanja Westfall-Greiter: Lernen als bildende Erfahrung, Vignetten in der Praxisforschung, Mit einem Vorwort von Käte Meyer-Drawe und Beiträgen von Horst Rumpf, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Mike Rose u.a. Innsbruck: Studienverlag 2012 [Rezension]

Rezension von: Michael Schratz / Johanna F. Schwarz / Tanja Westfall-Greiter: Lernen als bildende Erfahrung, Vignetten in der Praxisforschung, Mit einem Vorwort von Käte Meyer-Drawe und Beiträgen von Horst Rumpf, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Mike Rose u.a., Innsbruck: Studienverlag 2012 (161 S.; ISBN 978-3706551182)

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo VI [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo VII [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo V [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo III [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo II [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo IV [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Annaes do Parlamento Brazileiro. Tomo I [1882]

Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro, 1882.

Ideología y Derecho: El espíritu de la reforma jurídica costarricense (1882-1888)

Introducción La idea de esta vocación civil costarricense se vincula estrechamente con la afirmación de que Costa Rica, a diferencia del resto de los países de América, blandió el código  como única arma de combate. Para Hernán Peralta, Costa Rica constituyó la única nación hispanoamericana que se acogió al derecho desde el instante mismo de su emancipación política, y solo en ciertas ocasiones se ha producido fracturas, en todo  caso momentáneas, a esa regla de conducta