SQE1 Tort Law – Rules, Exceptions & Key Distinctions Cheat Sheet

Tort can feel difficult because several legal rules can look relevant to the same facts — and choosing the wrong liability route can make an otherwise correct rule completely wrong.

This 57-page SQE1 Tort revision guide is designed to help you stop treating Tort as a collection of isolated cases and instead work through each scenario in a clear legal sequence.

The guide helps you move through a Tort question like this:

what harm occurred → who is the claimant → who may be liable → which liability route applies → what elements must be proved → what exception applies → causation → remoteness → defence → remedy

The first step is always classification. Is the claimant dealing with physical injury, property damage, pure economic loss, psychiatric harm, defective products, interference with land or death? Once that is clear, the correct legal route becomes much easier to identify.

Covered in the guide:

• Negligence and duty of care

• Breach of duty and standards of care

• Factual causation and intervening acts

• Remoteness and the eggshell skull rule

• Pure economic loss

• Psychiatric harm

• Employers’ liability

• Defences

• Remedies for personal injury and death

• Vicarious liability

• Occupiers’ liability

• Product liability

• Private and public nuisance

Built for SQE1 MCQ revision

The guide is structured to help you:

• Classify the type of harm before applying the law

• Distinguish established duties from novel duty situations

• Separate causation from remoteness

• Identify when a special category of loss requires its own rules

• Distinguish an employer’s own liability from vicarious liability

• Select the correct statutory or common-law liability route

• Identify exceptions and intervening acts

• Understand whether a defence defeats the claim or merely reduces damages

• Follow the analysis through to who is liable and what the claimant can actually recover

The resource also includes master lifecycles, four Tort mini-maps, fast issue spotters, MCQ traps, “Do Not Confuse” distinctions and structured analysis chains so you can move from understanding the rule to applying it to unfamiliar facts.

The aim is simple:

identify the right Tort route first, then apply the right rules in the right order.

Use the guide alongside MCQ practice to consolidate the subject, diagnose why an answer went wrong, review difficult distinctions and prepare for mocks and final-stage revision.

Please note: This is an independently prepared educational revision resource. It is not affiliated with, approved by or endorsed by the SRA or any university, education provider or SQE preparation provider. Candidates should use the applicable SRA SQE1 Assessment Specification and their main study materials alongside this resource.

Accuracy and liability notice:

This resource has been prepared with reasonable care for educational and revision purposes. However, legal rules, regulatory requirements, figures and assessment specifications may change, and errors or omissions may occasionally occur. Candidates should check the applicable SRA SQE1 Assessment Specification and relevant official sources for the version that applies to their assessment date.

This resource is not legal advice and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice or official assessment materials. Nothing in this notice affects any rights you may have under applicable consumer law.