Torts Commons^™

The English Rule As To Liability For Unintended Consequences, George C. Tilley

Michigan Law Review

The question how far a defendant is liable in tort for the unintended consequences of his wrongful act, generally supposed to have been settled for England by the case of In re Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co., Ltd., has recently been reopened by the House of Lords decision in the case of Liesbosch Dredger v. S. S. Edison. Defendants, owners of the Edison, negligently sank the plaintiffs' dredger Liesbosch while the latter was being used by the plaintiffs in performance of a profitable contract to construct a harbor at Patras, Greece. There was evidence that, …