TERMIUM Plus®

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NON-NATURAL USE [1 record]

Record 1 2001-03-02

English

Subject field(s)
  • Tort Law (common law)
CONT

... strict liability will be imposed if two elements are present: (a) a non-natural use of land and (b) an escape. ... 1. NON-NATURAL USE / The judges who first used the term "non-natural" would probably be surprised by the way it has been explained by later judges. Although the phrase was originally meant to underscore the notion that land, in its natural state, could not be the subject of tort liability, this was soon altered. The judges who opposed the idea of strict liability fastened on to the phrase "non-natural" and employed it, whenever possible, to exempt certain common ordinary activities from the operation of the rule, ... non-natural came to mean special, exceptional, unusual, or out of the ordinary. In the same way, the word natural took on the meaning normal, common, everyday, or ordinary, rather than primitive or in a state of nature.

Key term(s)
  • non natural use

French

Domaine(s)
  • Droit des délits (common law)
CONT

[...] il y aura responsabilité stricte si deux éléments sont présents : a) un usage non naturel du bien-fonds et b) une fuite ou un échappement. [...] 1. USAGE NON NATUREL / Les juges qui ont employé le terme «non naturel» les premiers seraient probablement surpris de la façon dont les juges l'ont expliqué par la suite. À l'origine, le terme voulait simplement souligner la notion que le bien-fonds, dans son état naturel, ne pouvait pas faire l'objet de responsabilité délictuelle, mais cela n'a pas tardé à changer. Les juges opposés à l'idée de la responsabilité stricte se sont accrochés au terme «non naturel» et s'en sont servis, chaque fois que cela était possible, pour soustraire certaines activités courantes et ordinaires à l'application de la règle, [...] Le terme «non naturel» en est venu à signifier «spécial», «exceptionnel», «inhabituel», «hors de l'ordinaire». De la même façon, le terme naturel a pris le sens de normal, courant, quotidien ou ordinaire, et non plus «originaire» ou «à l'état habituel».

Spanish

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