TY - JOUR PY - 1983// TI - Motor-cars and the rule in Rylands v. Fletcher: a chapter of accidents in the history of law and motoring JO - Cambridge law journal A1 - Spencer, J. R. SP - 65 EP - 84 VL - 42 IS - 01 N2 - Readers of A. P. Herbert's Misleading Cases will recall the fictitious decision in Haddock v. Thwaile, where the Court of Appeal extended strict liability under Rylands v. Fletcher to motor-cars on the highway, and--carried away on a tide of Luddite eloquence--revived and extended the law of deodand by ordering the unfortunate motorist's car to be destroyed. Nowadays it is almost forgotten that this story is nearly based on fact. Before the First World War, at the dawn of the motor age, the English courts came within a whisker of imposing strict liability upon the owner of a motor-car for all the damage which it causes in use.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0008-1973 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0008197300109304 ID - ref1 ER -