''Carslogie Steamship Co Ltd v Royal Norwegian Government''
952is a
House of Lords judgment on
English tort law
English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil, rather than criminal law, that usually requi ...
. The case examines whether a negligent act that causes loss is also to be considered as the proximate cause of further subsequent loss.
Facts
On 26 November 1949 the vessel ''Heimgar'', while under
time charter
Time Charter (6 April 1979 – 7 July 2005) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won several major middle-distance races between 1982 and 1984. After winning twice as a two-year-old in 1981, she devel ...
to the
Ministry of Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...
, suffered damage in a collision with the ''Carslogie''. It was admitted that the ''Carslogie'' was solely to blame. Temporary repairs to the ''Heimgar'' were effected in England before she departed to the United States, where permanent repairs were to be carried out. During the Atlantic crossing, the ship sustained storm damage, which necessitated further repair. The ''Heimgar'' was in dock for fifty days whilst repairs were carried out for both the collision damage and the storm damage. It had been agreed that ten days would be allocated to the collision repair and thirty days for the weather damage. The owners of the ''Heimgar'' claimed damages for the ten days in port attributable to the collision damage.
Judgment
The owners of the ''Carslogie'' were held liable only for the loss suffered by the ''Heimgar'' which was a direct result of the collision with the ''Carslogie''. The House of Lords held that the storm was a
novus actus interveniens
Novus ("new" in Latin) may refer to:
Companies
* Novus Biologicals, a biotech company based in Littleton, Colorado, US
* Novus Entertainment, a Canadian telecommunications company
* Novus International, an animal health and nutrition company
* Nov ...
that broke the chain of
causation.
The defendant was not liable for any subsequent loss that arose from the storm encounter.
This House of Lords decision was later referred to in
Jobling v. Associated Dairies 982AC 794.
See also
*
English contract law
English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...
References
{{Reflist
English contract case law
English causation case law
House of Lords cases
1952 in case law
1952 in British law