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

• Author: Philip H. Osborne
• Profession: Faculty of Law. The University of Manitoba
• Pages: 422-436

CHAPTER 9

CONCLUSION:

THE CANADIAN LAW

OF TORTS IN THE

TWENTYFIRST

CENTURY

At the beginning of the twentieth century no judge or lawyer could have

foreseen the substantial expansion 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 century. These themes include the central ity and dom-

inance of the tort of negligence, the dynamism and expansionary nature

of the tort of negligence, the incremental drift towards a greater gener-

alization and integration 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 t hat threaten to marginali ze 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 t he tort of negligence blossomed into the dom-

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

422