Judicial Style and Judicial Reasoning in England and Germany

Cambridge Law Journal

Volumn 59, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 294-309

  Markesinis, Basil ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85010106951     PISSN: 00081973     EISSN: 14692139     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0008197300000131     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. recently increased by two Reports of the Commission in Z and Others v. the United Kingdom and T.P. and KM. v. the United Kingdom, both adopted on 10 September 1999.
2. For instance in “Learning from Europe and Learning in Europe” in The Gradual Convergence, Reports of the Commission in Z. above, pp. 1–32.
3. See: “Comparative law: the Challenge to Judges” in Law Making, Law Finding, and Law Shaping: The Diverse Influences (ed. by Basil S. Markesinis) (1997) pp. 37 ff.
4. They were Hill v. Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1989] A.C. 53
5. X (Minors) v. Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 A.C. 633
6. Stovin v. Wise [1996] A.C. 923
7. Elguzouli-Daff v. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [1995] Q.B. 335
8. W v. Essex County Council [1999] Fam. 90.
9. For references to this case law see our Tortious Liability of Statutory Bodies (1999).
10. [1989] A.C. 53.
11. Alexandrou v. Oxford [1993] 4 All E.R. 328
12. Ancell v. McDermott [1993] 4 All E.R. 355
13. Osman v. Ferguson [1993] 4 All E.R. 344.
14. Cf. Swinney v. Chief Constable of Northumbria [1997] Q.B. 464—all dealing with the possible liability of the police towards victims of crimes which they failed to prevent.
15. [1996] A.C. 923.
16. Hill can be compared with BGH LM § 839 [Fg] BGB no. 5
17. Stovin with BGH NJW 1980, 2194.
18. On these points see my observations in “Conceptualism, pragmatism and courage: A Common Lawyer looks at some Judgements of the German Federal Court”, in P. Wallington and R.M. Merkin (eds.) Essays in Memory of Professor EH Lawson (London 1985).
19. See; “Reading Through a Foreign Judgement”, in P. Cane and Jane Stapleton (eds.) The Law of Obligations, Essays in Celebration of John Fleming (1998), pp. 261 ff.
20. See, for instance, Professor Haimo Schack and Dr. Hans-Peter Ackmann, Höchstrichterliche Rechtsprechung zum Bürgerlichen Becht. 100 Entsheidungen für Studium und Examen, 4th ed. (1997).
21. A good illustration is Professor Thomas Landmark's Juristische Technik und Methodik des Common Law (1998)
22. (written with J. Jones) and his Common Law Tort and Contract, Juristische Arbeitsbücher I, Münsterner Einfuhrungen (1998).
23. For figures and an interesting discussion see Kötz, “Scholarship and the Courts: A Comparative Survey” in Essays in Honour of Henry Merryman on his Seventieth Birthday (1990) pp. 190 ff.
24. BGH 10 July 1963, BGHZ 40, 91 at 103–104, is, to my knowledge, one of the rarer cases which has referred to the wider questions of insurability and, somewhat indirectly, to the floodgates argument.
25. Though many illustrations could he given no case brings home these points more clearly than the decision of the Canadian Supreme Court in Norsk Pacific Co. Ltd. v. Canadian National Railway [1992] 1 S.C.R. 1021.
26. Such as that of Weiterfresserschaden or Drittschadensliquidation. It should be noted, however, that Drittschadensliquidation is one of the rare instances where the legislator left it to, or even encouraged the courts to fill the gap, see Mugdan, Materialien zum BG B, vol. 2, (1899) reprinted 1979, 517–518.
27. See, for instance, the reaction that followed BGH of 24.11.1976, BGHZ 67, 359.
28. Thus, Hager, “Zum Schutzbereich der Produzentenhaftung”, AcP 184 (1984), 413.
29. But cf. Steffen, “Die Bedeutung der ‘Stoffgleichheit’ mit dem ‘Mangelunwert’ für die Herstellerhaftung aus Weiterfresserschäden”, VersR 1988, 977
30. Kullmann, “Die Rechtsprechung des BGH zum Produkthaftpflichtrecht in den Jahren 1989/90”, NJW 1991, 675.
31. Thus in Konigsberg v. State Bar—366 US 36, 61 (1961) Mr. Justice Black said: “I believe that the First Amendment's unequivocal command that there shall he no abridgement of the rights of free speech and assembly shows that the men who drafted our Bill of Rights did all the ‘balancing’ that was to be done in this field…” (Italics added).
32. For instance, Protokolle, vol. II, at p. 662, about the value of the “economic-consequences argument” as a reason for not imposing liability. I am grateful to Professor Coester-Waltjen for this and the following reference.
33. Zur Reform des Staatshaftungsrechts (1976), pp. 5, 71.
34. [1996] A.C. 23, at p. 944.
35. However, in BGH 10.7.1980, NJW 1980, 2194 (2196)
36. [1996] A.C. 923 at p. 958.
37. [1988] Q.B. 60, at p. 75.
38. In the House of Lords, [1989] A.C. 53, at p. 63, Lord Keith echoed the same view when he said “In some instances the imposition of liability may lead to the exercise of a function being carried on in a detrimentally defensive frame of mind”.
39. In X (Minors) v. Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 A.C. 633, at p. 750, we again see this argument resurfacing in Lord Browne-Wilkinson's judgment.
40. That divides common law and civil law on this point. This is discussed in a comparative way by F.H. Lawson and B.S. Markesinis in Tortious Liability for Unintentional Harm in the Common Law and the Civil Law, vol. I (1982), pp. 71–80.
41. [1967] 1 W.L.R. 645.
42. [1996] A.C. 923, at p. 936.
43. Dewees, Duff and Trehilcock, Taking the Facts Seriously. Exploring the Domain of Accident Law (1996), ch. 5, review this evidence.
44. Mugdan, Materialen zum BGB, vol II, 1305
45. Protokolle, vol I, 609, 611, 622 where the legislator considered whether the imposition of liablity might make civil servants too cautious and/or provoke “an unfortunate high burden on the state”.
46. Zur Reform des Staatshafungsrechts (1976) 5, 71.
47. For instance, OLG Hamm, FamRZ 1993, 704
48. (factually quite similar to our W v. Essex County Council [1999] Fam. 90).
49. Likewise, BGH 16 October 1971, NJW 1971, 751
50. (analogous to our Elguzoli-Dafv. Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [1995] Q.B.335).
51. See also Ossenbühl, Staatshaftungsrecht, 5th ed. (1998), 57: “Die Drittbezogenheit der verletzten Amtspflicht ist … ein eiges Problem der Staatshaftung.”
52. A method also used in England where the possibility of a tort action for breach a statute is being considered. For details, see Markensinis and Deakin, Tort Law 4th ed. (1999), pp. 336 ff.
53. FamRZ 1993, 704.
54. [1999] Fam. 90.
55. BGM LM § 839 {Fg} BGB no. of 30 April 1953. (Translation by Dr. Raymond Youngs).
56. See also Professor Ossehühl's comments in Staatshaftungsrecht, 5th ed. (1998), 58–59.
57. For a recent illustration see: BGH 16.10.1997, NJW 1998, 751.
58. For instance, RG 16.10.1923, RGZ 108, 249
59. BGH 28.3.1996, NJW 1996, 2376.
60. In addition to the leading case mentioned above, see RG 26.2.1935, RGZ 147, 144
61. OGH Br. Z. Kin 22.9.1950, NJW 1951, 112.
62. The term belongs to Lord Mustill. See, for instance, his “Negligence in the World of Finance” 5 The Supreme Court [of Malaysia] Journal, pp. 1 ff. (1992).
63. See, also, his “What do Judges Do?”, Särtryck ur Juridisk Tidskrift, 1995–1996, Nr. 3, pp. 611 ff.
64. [1973] 1 Q.B. 27.
65. On this see: Taupitz, Haftung fur Energieleiterstorungen durch Dritte (1981).
66. Spilada Maritime Corp. v. Cansulex Ltd. [1987] 1 A.C. 460, 488.
67. Tortious Liability of Statutory Bodies: An Economic and Comparative Analysis of Five English Cases (1999).