Article by The Right Honourable The Lord Griffiths, M.C., Peter De Val, and R.J. Dormer
Product liability law in England is in a state of transition. A significant change will take place when the European Community Directive on Product Liability is implemented, by bringing Part I of the Consumer Protection Act of 1987 into force. This Article will therefore concentrate on looking forward, rather than back, and will discuss English product liability law as it will be after the Directive is implemented. Because the European Community Directive will bring English law somewhat closer to that of the United States, the Article will make certain comparisons between the two systems, in the hope that this may provide some insight into the significance and extent of English developments.
A paper on English, as compared to American, product liability law must begin with some exclusion clauses. The first is that no attempt will be made to explain the law of Scotland or of Northern Ireland. Although the Scottish law of negligence is the same as the English law, generally the law of England is just about as different from that of Scotland as it is from the law of Louisiana. The law of Northern Ireland is more similar to English law but nevertheless has its own special peculiarities. The second is that because the field of product liability could be extended to cover almost any branch of the law, this paper will be concerned almost exclusively with noncontractual liability, and primarily therefore with liability in tort.
Third, the writers are only too conscious that it would not be appropriate for them to explain American product liability law to United States lawyers. Certain comparisons will be attempted; but this is primarily a paper about the English law, and not the American.
Fourth, this Article does not confine itself to the maritime sphere. The fact that a case has a maritime dimension does not in England raise issues which would be raised in the United States. It should therefore be more illuminating to make a general comparison between English and United States law.
The Article will begin with a brief discussion of the development of English product liability law up to the new European Community Directive; this should help place the Directive in perspective. The Directive itself will then be outlined. The remaining sections of the paper discuss the significant changes the Directive will bring to the English system and how these new characteristics compare to those of American product liability law.
About the Author
The Right Honourable The Lord Griffiths, M.C. Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Peter De Val. Research Assistant at the Law Commission for England and Wales.
R.J. Dormer. Solicitor; member of the legal staff of the Law Commission for England and Wales.
Citation
62 Tul. L. Rev. 353 (1988)