Conclusion: The Canadian Law of Torts in the Twenty-first Century

• Author: Philip H. Osborne
• Pages: 400-414

400

In 1900 no judge or lawyer could have foreseen the substantial expan-

sion and evolution of the Canadian law of torts that would take place

in the following hundred years. We are not in any better position today

to predict what the next hundred years will bring. Nevertheless, there

are certain trends and themes in Canadian tort law that are likely to be

influential in its development and evolution in the twenty-first centu-

ry. These themes include the centrality and dominance of the tort of

negligence, the dynamism and expansionary nature of the tort of neg-

ligence, the incremental drift towards a greater generalization and inte-

gration of tort rules, the reform and modernization of tort law, the

dominance of the compensatory function of tort law, and the rise of

alternative and supplementary legal and non-legal compensatory and

deterrent mechanisms that threaten to marginalize and diminish the

importance of tort law. Not all of these themes are discrete phenomena

and not all of them point in the same direction, but they each warrant

some attention in anticipating the future path of Canadian tort law.

A. The Centrality of the Tort of

Negligence

In the twentieth century the tort of negligence blossomed into the

dominant field of tort liability. Virtually all activities that carry a risk of

Conclusion:

The Canadian Law

of Torts in the

Twenty-First

Century

chapter 9