The Law of Misstatements: 50 Years on from Hedley Byrne v Heller

Description

2013 was the 50th anniversary of the House of Lords' landmark decision in Hedley Byrne v Heller. This international collection of essays brings together leading experts from five of the most important jurisdictions in which the case has been received (the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Canada and Australia) to reappraise its implications from a number of complementary perspectives-historical, theoretical, conceptual, doctrinal and comparative. It explores modern developments in the law of misstatement in each of the jurisdictions; examines the case's profound effects on the conceptual apparatus of the law of negligence more generally; explores the intersections between misstatement liabilities in contract, tort, equity and under statutory consumer protection provisions; and critically assesses the ways in which advisor liabilities have come to be limited and distributed under systems of 'joint and several' and 'proportionate' liability respectively. Inspired by Hedley Byrne, the purpose of the collection is to reflect on the case's echoes, effects and analogues throughout the private law and to provide a platform for thinking about the ways in which liabilities for misstatement and pure economic loss should be modelled in the modern day.

Kit Barker is Professor of Law and Ross Grantham is Professor of Commercial Law, both of the TC Beirne School of Law, the University of Queensland. Warren Swain is Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Auckland and Professor, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland.

Characterised by a comparative approach, The Law of Misstatements will be relevant to any lawyer interested in these fundamental issues of private law, even outside of the common law jurisdictions. (Translated from original French) -- ED * Revue trimestrelle de droit civil * What is most exciting about this volume is its demonstration of the broader debate on tort; in deconstructing one small element of tortious liability on the fringes of our accepted bounds of liability, it has rehearsed with new clarity the unrest and instability at the heart of tort jurisprudence. -- Nicholas Hoggard * Journal of Professional Negligence * All the essays are of the highest quality, and the book is to be warmly recommended to all readers interested in Hedley Byrne v Heller and its implications, or in private law more generally. -- Stephen Waddams, University of Toronto * Journal of Contract Law *