Titchener V British Rlys Board
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''Titchener v British Railway Board''
983 Year 983 ( CMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Diet of Verona: Emperor Otto II (the Red) declares war against the Byzantine Empire and the Emirate of Sicily ...
1 WLR 1427 is a Scottish
delict Delict (from Latin ''dēlictum'', past participle of ''dēlinquere'' ‘to be at fault, offend’) is a term in civil and mixed law jurisdictions whose exact meaning varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is always centered on the notion of ...
case concerning occupiers' liability, decided by the
House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
.


Facts

Miss Titchener, a 15-year-old girl, climbed through a gap in a fence onto a railway line owned by the
British Railways Board The British Railways Board (BRB) was a State ownership, nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that operated from 1963 to 2001. Until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to d ...
. She was hit by a train. She sued the board under the Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 for failing in their common duty of care to keep the premises reasonably safe for visitors. The
Inner House of the Court of Session The Inner House is the senior part of the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland; the Outer House forms the junior part of the Court of Session. It is a court of appeal and a court of first instance. The chief justice is the ...
held that the pursuer had taken a chance, fully aware of the risks involved and that the Board had no responsibility to maintain the fence any more than they had.Mark Lunney, Ken Oliphant, ''Tort Law: Text and Materials'' (OUP, 2008) 286,


Judgment

The House of Lords dismissed the claimant's final appeal, holding that she was not owed any duty under the Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 on the grounds that she had voluntarily decided to run the risk of walking on the railway line. As such, the defender had no duty, at least in relation to the pursuer, to maintain the fence any better than they had, based on the principle of ''
volenti non fit injuria ''Volenti non fit iniuria'' (or ''injuria'') (Latin: "to a willing person, injury is not done") is a Roman legal maxim and common law doctrine which states that if someone willingly places themselves in a position where harm might result, knowing ...
''.


Other cases

The following cases were referred to in this judgment: * ''Slater v Clay Cross Co Ltd''—distinguished


See also

*''
Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council ''Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council'' 003UKHL 47is a 2003 court case in England from the House of Lords regarding the torts of negligence and occupiers' liability (the latter regarding the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984). It was a landmark ...
'' *'' Donoghue v Folkestone Properties Ltd''


References

Scottish case law House of Lords cases 1983 in Scotland 1983 in United Kingdom case law Court of Session cases British Rail Death in Scotland Rail transport in Scotland Delict 1983 in case law 1983 in rail transport Railway case law {{Scotland-rail-transport-stub