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Topic-Act of God As A General Defence: Presented To - Dr. Jaswinder Kaur Presented by - Pulkit Gera

The document discusses the legal defense of "Act of God" in tort cases. It defines Act of God as an overwhelming natural force such as an earthquake or flood that is extraordinary and could not have been reasonably anticipated or guarded against. The defense exempts liability if the plaintiff's damages were solely caused by such an overwhelming natural event rather than any human action or negligence.

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Pulkit Gera
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225 views8 pages

Topic-Act of God As A General Defence: Presented To - Dr. Jaswinder Kaur Presented by - Pulkit Gera

The document discusses the legal defense of "Act of God" in tort cases. It defines Act of God as an overwhelming natural force such as an earthquake or flood that is extraordinary and could not have been reasonably anticipated or guarded against. The defense exempts liability if the plaintiff's damages were solely caused by such an overwhelming natural event rather than any human action or negligence.

Uploaded by

Pulkit Gera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Topic- Act of God as a General Defence

Presented To- Presented By-


Dr. Jaswinder Kaur Pulkit Gera
(Assistant Professor of Law) Roll No.- 18060
Group No. – (9)
Introduction to Law of Torts
 The word tort has been derived from the latin term
“tortum”, which means ‘to twist’.
 Tort means a conduct which is not straight or lawful,
but on the other hand, twisted, crooked or unlawful.
 It is Civil wrong committed against the whole society
i.e. Right in rem.
 Tort is redressible by an action of unliquidated
damages unlike breach of contract or breach of trust
where the damages may be liquidated.
Essentials of Tort
 Act or omission-
To make person liable under torts he must have done a
negative act or omitted to do something which he was
supposed to do.
eg.Commiting trespass, publishing defamatory statement etc.
 Legal Damage-
To be successful in an action of tort, the plaintiff has to prove
legal damage.
1.) Injuria sine Damno.(Injury without damage)
2.) Damno sine Injuria.(damage without injury)
Meaning of Defence
When the plaintiff brings an action against the
defendant for a particular tort and successfully proves
the existence of all the essential ingredients of that
tort, the defendant is held liable for the same. But
there are some general defences available to the
defendant which may absolve him from liability if he
can successfully plead that his wrongful act falls under
any of those defences. There are eight general defences
under law of tort which can be used by the defendant
to evade liability.
General Defences under law of tort
 Volenti non fit injuria.
 Plaintiff, the wrongdoer.
 Inevitable accident.
 Act of god.
 Private Defence.
 Mistake.
 Necessity.
 Statuary Authority.
Act of God as a general defence
 The act resulting out of overwhelming operations of natural
forces such as extraordinary earthquake, rainfall, volcanic
eruptions etc. without any human intervention as
interpreted in Karnataka Road Transport Corporation V.
Mahadevan Reddy.(AIR 2003 SC 3797)

Two important essentials are needed for this defence-:


 There must be working of Natural forces.
 The occurrence must be extraordinary and not one which
could be anticipated and reasonably guarded against.
Case laws Of Act of God/ Vis major
 Nichols V. Marsland (1876)
 Kallulal V. Hemchand(AIR 1958 MP 48)
 Vohra Sadikbhai Rajakbhai & Ors. Vs. State of Gujarat &
Ors (2016).

Exception-
Defence of Act of God cannot be pleaded if there exist a
arbitration clause in the contract signed between two parties.

Case Law- State of U.P. V. Allied Construction(AIR 2004 SC 586)

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