The Elements of Negligence in a Statutory Context

The constituent elements of the tort of negligence are prerequisites for liability and serve as an important analytical tool to separate out distinct legal inquiries and isolate questions of facts and law, relevant to establishing each. However, many of the reforms enacted by the various Civil Liability Acts do not fit easily into the framework of negligence. This poses analytical challenges. Do different ways of classifying enactments make any practical difference in their operation? Do we analyse difficult-to-classify statutory enactments as ‘outside’ the framework of negligence law, or do we attempt to incorporate them into the negligence framework, even where they distort or overly complicate that framework? This article explores these questions and concludes that we cannot ignore the impact such provisions have on the overall structure of negligence law.