Legal Reasoning Practice Questions on Trespass

A cancer patient, Omerta Sen, undergoing treatment in a hospital, reached the terminal stage. It was clear to everyone including the personal physician of the patient, Dr. Joseph Piglitz, that the patient did not have much time. At that stage, the specialist doctor in charge of the treatment, Dr. Jagdish Lokneeti, administered a drug which was at the stage of experimentation without the consent of the patient. The experiment had established that the drug could control the spread of cancer cells to some extent. Omerta Sen died soon after. When the relatives of Mr. Sen came to know about this incident, they filed a suit against the hospital, the United South Asian (USA) Hospital, and the Jagdish Lokneeti charging them for assault and battery, i.e. unjustified physical interference.

(a – the case of public welfare is questionable since the drug was experimental and there is no proof of its efficacy. Allowing public welfare as an excuse in such serious cases would put matters in grave jeopardy. There’s nothing to indicate the patient’s disability to consent, and option ‘d’ seems practical, but is unnecessary, since the patient’s consent sits above his relatives’)

A teacher, Slomo Shaukeen, suffering from back problems was moving around the class room in the course of teaching. As he was moving backwards to reach his chair, a student, Vikramaditya Behra (hence he did not hear the fact that Slomo had back issues) saw a scorpion moving underneath the chair and immediately rushed to attack the scorpion, and in that process, moved the chair. Meanwhile, Slomo landed straight on the ground, rather in swift motion, and suffered a slipped disc. A suit was filed against the student for battery.

(a)

Facts : A farmhouse belonging to Raju had its fencing electrified. The object was to ensure that the farm was secured from any wild animals in the vicinity. There was a clear warning about the electrified fencing. A cricket ball, hit from a nearby play ground, fell within the farm. Babu Rao, the coach conducting the summer camp for school going children there, attempted to jump the fence to retrieve the ball, got injured on account of the electric shock sustained. Babu Rao files a suit against Raju for relief.

(b – a warning clearly indicates that he did not intend to cause wilful harm.)

(c – the first two arguments were forwarded by the defence, and they had failed. The facts are based on the English case, R v. Constanza.)

Pran, a bigshot in the locality had kept a ferocious dog to guard his house. He strictly instructed all his servants not to go near that dog and there was a special attendant who was to take care of the dog. There was a prominent board warning the visitors about the ferocious dog. One day, a twelve-year-old boy playing in the neighbourhood, running after his ball got into the house. The dog attacked him and killed him. Pran was sued for damages.

(d)

Debarshi was running a dairy farm in his house. A part of his farm was used by the people as a short cut to get into the nearby railways station. Debarshi never liked it and put up a board that “All trespassers will be prosecuted”. But he actually tolerated them, because quite a few of them patronised his-business. One day, a person, who was crossing the farm to get into the railway station, was attacked by a bull belonging to the farm. The injured person filed a suit against Debarshi.

(d)

(d – the boy starts speaking with an “if” and joins it with a “(then) I would” which clearly indicates his intentions – he would not have done the act. Coupled with the fact that there was a fence and a considerable distance between the two, there is little scope of immediate harm. The fact that he is elderly bears no weight when we apply the ‘reasonability test’. The facts are loosely based on the American case, Commonwealth v. Eyre.)

(a – the situation, as illustrated by the answer, does not meet the requirements of false imprisonment. Also, the facts are silent on how did Morsi stall Hosni, but he was unaware of the police coming or the need to stay till their arrival, so he can be assumed to be free to leave if he felt that he was getting late. Despite the fact that it would have been reasonable to call the doctor to verify, a single carelessness should not make Morsi guilty. The facts are based on the US case of Taylor v. Johnson.)

(“Chattel” can be defined as movable personal property, whereas “property” usually means immovable property)

(d – trespass to intangible property, such as e-mails, is a concept developed under US law. Now, CLAT simply restricts itself to good old trespass to land, but there is no remedy should they choose to venture out of the box – they are rather infamous for doing that some times. Also, ‘d’ gives the reasoning as to how an intangible qualifies as “chattel”.)

(c – A major cornerstone or tort law is reasonableness. That, the helicopter was several hundred feet away, shows that Bernstein cannot reasonably derive any enjoyment from his airspace at such a distance, and thus, his claim fails.)

This article is posted in association with clatapult.com.