LIJDLR

Strict Liability

DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE LIABILITY AND ITS IMPACT ON INDUSTRIES: A CRITICAL STUDY

Volume III Issue I /

DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTE LIABILITY AND ITS IMPACT ON INDUSTRIES: A CRITICAL STUDY Kavya Singh, 10th Semester, B.A.LL.B Student at Amity Law School Lucknow, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Dr. Rajeev Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor at Amity Law School Lucknow, Amity University Uttar Pradesh Download Manuscript doi.org/10.70183/lijdlr.2024.v03.20 The notion of absolute liability replaced the English concept of strict responsibility following the landmark decision in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India in 1987, which is a distinctive development of Indian law. Even in cases where reasonable precaution is taken, this theory holds hazardous companies liable without any exclusions or defences. This dissertation’s main goals are to examine the doctrine’s conceptual development, evaluate its legal underpinnings, and examine its real-world applications to Indian companies, especially with regard to industrial and environmental catastrophe management. The paper uses a doctrinal and analytical approach, critically evaluating the effects of absolute liability on public safety and industrial growth by consulting secondary sources, legislative requirements, and court rulings. It explores the conflict between environmental preservation and economic advancement, paying special attention to incidents like the Oleum Gas Leak and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, which were pivotal in the development of industrial responsibility in India. The dissertation also looks at how this philosophy affects the operation of Pollution Control Boards and regulatory tools like the Environment Protection Act of 1986. The United States and the United Kingdom, two countries with quite distinct liability systems, are used in a comparison study. The study comes to the conclusion that although the concept of absolute accountability is crucial for safeguarding citizens from industrial dangers in developing nations like India, its implementation frequently suffers from uneven enforcement and postponed justice. In order to improve regulatory compliance and encourage a balance between industrial expansion and sustainable development, the research makes proposals for legal reforms. Type Information Research Paper LawFoyer International Journal of Doctrinal Legal Research, Volume III, Issue I, Page 445-462. Creative Commons Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. © Authors, 2024

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LOST YET PRESENT: THE RISE AND FALL OF A BREAKTHROUGH – RELEVANCE OF RYLANDS V. FLETCHER IN THE CONTEMPORARY EPOCH

Volume 1 Issue IV /

LOST YET PRESENT: THE RISE AND FALL OF A BREAKTHROUGH – RELEVANCE OF RYLANDS V. FLETCHER IN THE CONTEMPORARY EPOCH Neelanjana Ray, BBA LL.B. (Hons), 1st Year, GITAM (Deemed to Be) University, Visakhapatnam Main Campus. Download Manuscript ABSTRACT The landmark case – Rylands v. Fletcher marks the fons et origo of one of the most critical aspects of the Law of Torts – Strict Liability, making it a milestone in this specific branch of law. As per the ‘Pigeon Hole Theory’ formulated by Salmond, up until 1868, judgments were passed based on precedent verdicts and known tortious activities which fitted into its designated ‘Pigeon Holes’. However, a brand-new situation arose, which shook the judiciary, as no other precedent was found similar to it. This case was utterly complicated as the defendant was neither negligent nor had any intention to do whatever he had done indirectly. This called for the establishment of a revolutionary rule that penalised the tort feasor for keeping any such dangerous thing with him, which, if escaped, could cause substantial harm to others. Having been immensely influential in the era, which could be traced back to the 1800s, the rule quite naturally lost its hold and dominance over the ages, deeming it seemingly redundant in the modern period. However, the relevance of this rule has not yet vanished; it still is, de facto, very much pertinent, even to this day. Since this rule deals with possessions of hazardous things which hold the power to cause damage if broken free, unless and until industrialisation ceases to exist, this rule will not lose its grip over the concept of culpability either. This rule might be concealed by various other present-day judgements, but as the ancient saying goes, old is gold – this rule is the grundnorm, the underlying basis of determining the accountability of commercial enterprises, keeping an eye on their notoriety in handling perilous objects. This, being a crucial case, is vast and has various minute details, implications, and elements, which will be explored in this paper henceforth. This topic is not to be dismissed as extraneous because what’s out of sight is not necessarily out of mind – and that is exactly the main aim of the paper. The crux of this article is to deconstruct the past, present and future of the archaic judgment, proving its relevance in the 21st century and in times yet to unfold by revisiting the rule, its origin, the essential conditions, defences and various other allied concepts. Type Information Research Paper LawFoyer International Journal of Doctrinal Legal Research, Volume I, Issue IV, Page 290-308. Creative Commons Copyright This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Copyright © LIJDLR 2024 Recent content Author Details (NIKITA AMBWANI & RUPALI CHAUHAN) LAW STUDENTS, UNIVERSITY OF RAJASTHAN, JAIPUR Publication Details Volume 1 Issue 1 Year 2022 Published on 01/09/2022

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