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

• Author: Philip H. Osborne
• Profession: Faculty of Law. The University of Manitoba
• Pages: 443-457

443

CONCLUSION

The Canadian Law

of TorTs in The

TwenTy-firsT

CenTury

At t he beginning of the twentieth century, no judge or lawyer could

have foreseen the substantial expansion and evolution of the Canadian

law of tort s that would take place in the following hundred years. We

are not in any better position today to predict what the next hundred

years w ill br ing. Nevertheless, there are cert ain 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

centrality and dominance of the tort of negligence, the dynamism and

expansionar y nature of the tort of negligence, the incremental dr ift to-

wards a greater generalization and integ ration of tort rules, t he reform

and modernization of tort law, t he dominance of the compensatory

function of tort law, and the rise of alternative and supplementary legal

and non-legal compensatory and deterrent mechanisms th at 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 attent ion in anticipating the fu-

ture path of Canadi an tort law.

A. THE CENTR A LITY OF THE TORT OF

NEGLIGENCE

In the twentieth century the tort of negligence blossomed into the dom-

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