The English Legal System assignment - Essay Example

? Legal studies assignment Introduction Negligence as a tort in the laws of the United Kingdom refers to a breach of a legal responsibility as included in a contract thus resulting in the damage of a property or loss of life. The court evaluates the contract with the parties involved with the aim of determining the legal obligations breached by either of the concerned parties. The court also determines the actual breach and the resultant damage. In Williams v Thompson Leatherdale [2008], the court determines the duty and expectations from the mentioned profession (Gravells, 2010). As a professional land surveyor, the court examines the specific responsibilities and expectations arising from such in determining a liability in case of a negligence case. The land surveyor, for example, must have relevant skills as dictated by the profession. Besides, one ought to possess the necessary resources to facilitate their work. The government ensures this through the certification of every land surveyor operating in the country. Land surveying is a fundamental discipline in the construction industry. It influences the design among other architectural features of buildings put up. Surveying is a mathematical technique of defining the three-dimensional or the terrestrial features of land. In doing this, surveyors measure the distance between such points, the angles between them, and their correlation. This way, they help determine the boundaries of land and the strategic locations of particular features in building. They further analyze landscapes and inform the architect on the design of the house. Additionally, surveyors help solve boundary issues as they develop maps for government and other clients before the sale or purchase of a land. Given their roles, they are important in the real estate industry and will always face liability charges in the event of a compromised land survey as the discourse below discusses. The real estate industry is quite dynamic. It involves several property transfers. As such, the parties involved in the agreements often include the surveyors, architects, property owners, and eventually the client. Each of the parties have a role to play to ensure that the owner of the property obtains value for his money while the client who later buys or rents the property gets equal value for the invested money. The construction process is, therefore, a cohesive process that begins with the survey of the land and the determination of the effective terrestrial features thus influencing the development of property that sustains the investment for all the parties involved. The land surveyor may face legal responsibility for negligence on their jobs in the survey and design of the house depending on the complaints and conflicts that arise thereafter. Such complaints may arise from either the property owner or the eventual client who either buys or rents the property. The complaints may include any boundary feuds that arise thereafter or the nature of the structure that arises from the design. Surveyors inform the architect on the nature of the land and its ability to support particular designs and populations. A surveyor should determine if a land is swampy and therefore advise the architect on the design of the structure and the possible reclamation methods capable of making the land usable for the purposes of constructing a residential property. Legal cases would arise in case a building sinks later since such portrays evident lack of effective land survey. In a bid to ascertain the security of the citizen, the government of Britain asserts more importance on the practice and, consequently, evaluates every surveyor. The government certifies the survey schools and the courses taught in such facilities. Additionally, it certifies every surveyor thus permitting their practice. This way, it becomes possible to track any fraudulent surveyors who cause the loss of either property or lives. The property owner always contracts a surveyor who may be a real estate agent. The agent then identifies a prime land and decides to develop it. The contract between the two parties binds the surveyor by spelling out his responsibilities. A contract is a legally binding document that helps lay out the responsibilities of each party. The property developer pays the contractor who in turn must survey the land and provide relevant information to the architects. A contract thus binds the surveyor to the terms of agreement that commits him legally to the obligations of the practice. This implies that the surveyor must provide effective services and guarantee the security and the property rights of the developer. Failure to which the terms and conditions of the contract become legal evidence to the negligence charges that ensue thereafter. In the vent that another party lays secondary claims to the land, the court will institute subsequent survey of the property. The government surveyor will provide the maps of the property and settle the feud. At such point, should the recommendations of the first surveyor contradict with the findings of the government surveyor, one becomes culpable for the financial losses among other numerous inconveniences the investor incurs. The surveyor thus becomes liable since they should provide effective boundaries to their clients as they have access to updated government maps. However, in analysing the contract, the court adopts an objective approach since some of the terms provided by the offeror may often sound subjective (Thompson, 2009). After the development of the property, the developer either sells or sublets it to an interested party. This implies that the two form yet another contract as they enter into a legally binding agreement. Both the property owner and the end user have specific rights to the property. The works of the surveyor thus affect the utilization of the property relatively. They both incur losses in case of any destruction of the property arising from the negligence of the surveyor. The surveyor must carry out assigned responsibilities effectively as stipulated in the contract with the property developer or owner. One must determine the nature of the land and advice on the kind of structure the architect designs on such lands. The destruction of the property after the subsequent transfer to the end user presents more harm to the end user since they incur property losses resulting from the destruction and also risk losing their lives. In case of such occurrences, the government investigates the possible causes of such calamities thus determine the one responsible. A liability for such damages compels the offending party to compensate for the losses incurred including the lives lost. Both the property owner and the end user of the property incur losses which the liable party must compensate. A surveyor becomes liable should the court through its government surveyors determine that they did not carry out their work in advising the architect accordingly. In surveying land, the land surveyors determine such factors as the building locations which include the corners of a building and the surface location. Such are fundamental in ensuring the security and stability of the entire structure. An investigation into the collapse of a structure will reveal the mistakes committed by the surveyor as he advised the architect on the surface features of the land. With such determinations, it becomes advisable to institute legal charges against the surveyor and determine his or her commitment to the terms of the contract signed between them and the property owner. As a professional, any surveyor operating within the United Kingdom has certification from the government indicating the fact that they have all the expertise and equipment to determine the surface features of a land. Failure to determine such features of the property risks the lives and investments of the parties concerned thus validating the resulting negligence case. As discussed earlier, in a negligence suit against a land surveyor, the court must determine three fundamental aspects of the agreement between the property developer and the surveyor. These include a legal duty of care, breach in the duty care, and damages. In determining the legal duty care, the court investigates the qualifications of the land surveyor and his or her certification. This way, the court determines whether the land surveyor possessed the expertise to conduct the land survey thus influence the design of the structure. In case of a valid certificate, the court investigates the responsibilities of the land surveyor as outlined in the profession. With such determination, the court further investigates the terms and conditions of the contract between the property developer and the land surveyor. Such determine the conditions in which the surveyor worked and his preliminary recommendations to either the property developer or the architects. After the effective determination of the responsibilities of the land surveyor as required by the profession and as indicated in the contract, the court then determines a breach of such acts of care by investigating any case of carelessness or oversights that might have instigated the accident. The court determines that indeed as a professional, the surveyor did not effectively determine the surface features of the land thus approved the construction of a five-storey structure in a land that could not support a three storey building thus resulting in the collapse of the structure. This way, the court proves breaches in the legal duty of care as stipulated in both the contract between the two parties and by the profession. The court then determines the resultant damage. In determining the damages, the court investigates the loss of property and deaths resulting from the incident. The collapse of a building, for example, results in the loss of the entire investment. Additionally, such a collapse will risk the lives of the tenants who may die because of the accident besides the subsequent loss of their property. The court evaluates such and determines the liability of the surveyor. In doing this, the court adopts an objective approach and considers every possible perspective to the case. This will include investigation of the terms of the contract between the property developer and the land surveyor and the subsequent contract between the property owner and the tenants. Some losses are often attributable to the landowner depending on the findings of the court’s investigations into the nature of the two separate contracts. At times, property owners defy the recommendations of the architect thus order the construction of a weak structure. In such cases, the court exonerates the land surveyor. England, unlike most of the European countries, has a unique constitution; the country’s constitution arises from several acts of parliament, legal documents, and judicial decisions. In determining the negligence as discussed above, the court uses such acts of parliament, torts, and past precedence (Gary & David, 2010). The courts employ relative yet effective applications of the statutes. In doing this, the courts must ensure that they protect the interests of all the parties involved by instituting fairness to all. The courts consider precedents as set by the courts in past similar cases. By doing this, the courts avoid instances of unfairness as either party in such cases may compare past cases to their current case and identify inconsistencies. In the case of unique cases, the courts analyse the statutes and state laws thus maintaining fairness in the determination and in setting precedents for future cases. In retrospect, land surveyors may face negligence cases depending on the manner in which they offer their services to the public. The English legal system provides an elaborate process of falsifying a contractor and determining negligence in their cases. The courts thus use the existing legislations to ensure effective compensation for the losses incurred by the parties concerned. Bibliography Gary, S. & David, K. 2010. The English Legal System: 2010-2011. London: Routledge. Gravells, N. 2010. Land law text and materials, 4th edition. New York: Sweet and Maxwell. Thompson, M. 2009. Thompson Modern Land Law, 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More