A Novel Development of Tort Law: Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police

Abstract

This note evaluates the impact of the UK Supreme Court decision in Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police on tort law. It suggests that while the Supreme Court clarified that the tripartite test to determine the existence of a duty of care in negligence laid out in Caparo Industries plc v Dickman applied only to ‘novel’ cases, there is no principled ground why a single test cannot be utilised for both established categories and novel cases. The note also argues that the decision has important implications for the act-omission distinction in police cases, and more broadly, the distinction between principle and policy and the relationship between tort and public law.