p. 45314. Deceit
- Simon DeakinSimon DeakinProfessor of Law and a Fellow of Peterhouse, University of Cambridge
- , and Zoe AdamsZoe AdamsJunior Research Fellow, King's College, University of Cambridge, King's College, University of Cambridge
Abstract
This chapter discusses the tort of deceit. The common-law rules concerning liability for dishonesty were synthesised to create the tort of deceit at the end of the eighteenth century in Pasley v. Freeman, and the tort takes its modern form from the decision of the House of Lords in Derry v. Peek in 1889. Most of the cases concern non-physical damage, that is to say, financial or pure economic loss, although the tort can also extend to cover personal injuries and damage to property. The requirements of liability are as follows: the defendant must make a false statement of existing fact with knowledge of its falsity and with the intention that the claimant should act on it, with the result (4) that the claimant acts on it to his detriment.
