Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 13:29:00

From: Ken Oliphant

Subject: UK Compensation Bill Published

Umm .. quite the contrary. The explanatory memo clearly accepts that the leading decisions have been taking account of the social utility of D's conduct for donkey's years (as Andrew puts it). The Bill simply states what is already law.

Why the Government should be bothered with this isn't entirely clear, but possible answers are (a) [this is the stated reason] they wanted to send a clear message to those who perceive themselves as at risk of being sued that they can't be held liable if they take reasonable care, bearing in mind the social utility of their activity, and (b) [more cynically] they'd backed themselves into a corner where they had to be seen to be doing something about "compensation culture", but didn't want to actually do anything ....

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