The Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 (c 47) is an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
.
The Act repealed the relevant common law and made new provision for contribution between persons who are jointly or severally, or both jointly and severally, liable for the same damage and in certain other similar cases where two or more persons have paid or may be required to pay compensation for the same damage; and to amend the law relating to proceedings against persons jointly liable for the same debt or jointly or severally, or both jointly and severally, liable for the same damage.
The core principle of the Act is set out in section 1(1):
Subject to the following provisions ... any person liable in respect of any damage suffered by another person may recover contribution from any other person liable in respect of the same damage (whether jointly with him or otherwise).
The Act applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
[Section 8.]
Interpretation
In it was held that "contribution" is not limited to a contribution in respect of damages.
In ''Rahman v Arearose Ltd''
001 001, O01, or OO1 may refer to:
*1 (number), a number, a numeral
*001, fictional British agent, see 00 Agent
*001, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian fire brigade (until 1986)
*AM-RB 001, the code-name for the Aston Martin Valkyrie ...
QB 351 it was held that the "same damage" meant the kind of indivisible injury as arises under common law in a case of concurrent torts. This was affirmed in .
In the court held that the Act has extra-territorial effect, and that it would applied English contribution claims to torts that were otherwise governed by foreign laws.
External links
References
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1978
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