Sebastian Su Kar Wai

The study of Tort Law has been a most enlightening one for me. Over the past 3 months, two main areas have been covered in a combination of Tort lectures and turorials, namely the Tort of Trespass to the Person and the Tort of Negligence. Studying these two areas of law assisted me in realizing not only how the law operates to ensure fairness by providing redress to people who have suffered from civil wrongs from the pocket of the perpetrator, or negligent party, but also serves as a civil deterrent to ensure that individuals and corporations take greater care and have the interests of people who are our 'neighbours' at heart. Through the course of study, I also had the opportunity to research in great detail the Tort of Trespass to the Person, which we were required to create a video presentation on, I learnt not only how to work effectively in a team to generate ideas and work together to accomplish a task, even though the process may be laden with obstacles and mentally draining, given my preference to work alone. That preference, if anything, made the learning experience of this module that much more important and meaningful, given the extra-curricular aspect of what I learnt. The value of learning to work in a team was so deeply ingrained in me during the course of the assignment that I found myself liking and appreciating the group I was in, while navigating through the academic and logistical challenges which the assignment posed together. In addition to that, Tort Law has undoubtedly helped me as a law student as it helped me understand the nature of law better. This is because while I have often read and heard people comment that the law is 'equal' in addition to being fair, I believe that the equality is best found in Tort Law as the law requires compensation be paid to the innocent party from the pocket of the offending party. This aspect of equality, I believe, is unique to Tort Law, as criminal offenses involve punitive punishments by the State, with the victim of a crime seldom compensated tangibly for the ordeal. This thought process is one I expect to carry into my second year of Law school, where I will further my comparison between Tort Law and Criminal law and pursue the question of 'how equal is the law, and does it adequately serve justice?' The understanding I have gained from Tort Law also goes beyond the philosophical question of the role of the law, but it also greatly resonates with me given its relatability to everyday life. For example, in the case of Mullin v Richards (1998), the claimant and defendant fought in class using plastic rulers and the claimant was blinded in one eye after an accident occured, but no liability was present as the claimant had to be held to the standards of a reasonable schoolgirl. Given our experiences as children, being overly playful and getting into accidents as an outcome, the added legal twist which Tort Law provided to daily perspectives made it a very interesting topic and helped me apply the law to daily situations, to the extent that when I see a car accident nowadays, the first thought that comes to mind is the reasonable standards that a driver should be held to. Tort Law has also opened my eyes to some very interesting faults when describing crimes, such as the mainstream media's consistent usage of the term 'assault' due to its literal definition, when the appropriate legal term for an unconsented act involving the breaking of the skin is 'battery' instead. This knowledge, coupled with the academic exposure I have attained from Tort Law, serves to prepare me for legal practice, but beyond the other subjects I have taken, Tort serves to help me decide which field of law to specialise in, given my interest in it even before I begun Law. Therefore, not only will it make me more ready and prepared for the industry by expanding my critical and philosophical thinking in law as explained above, it will also make me more industry-ready by providing me with a sense of direction as to where my legal interests lie, and possibly even help me decide where my career lies. In all these ways, the study of Tort Law has broadened my knowledge in attaching the law to reality, expanded my field of thought in philosophical ways and also made me more industry-ready as a legal practitioner in the future.