The Place of Tort Law in the Public Transport System: The Case of the British Railway

Abstract

Tort lawyers have occasionally asked themselves the question, ‘What is the place of public transport in the development of tort law?’ But here I ask the question in reverse, namely, what is the place of tort law in the public transport system? That is, in what ways and to what extent does tort law function to deliver the goals of the public transport system, which may be thought of as providing mobility without injuring people? I take as an example the British railway system, tracing out the inputs into the system, the processes within it and the outputs from it and attempt to place tort law among its inputs. That gives us a glimpse of how tort law might influence outputs both directly and indirectly. The answer to thequestionseemstobe,atleastasafirstapproximation,thattortlaw,operating alongside and as part of a system of information flows and incentives, is likely to be more significant for the more peripheral parts in the system than for the organisations immediately concerned with delivering the service.