complained of is unintentional though arguably negligent, the recently received further support from dicta in the Court of Appeal in Wilson v Pringle[1986] 3 WLR 1(per Croom-Johnson LJ at p. 8) Even if an action can be maintained in trespass for unintentional but negligent conduct, it may be that not all advantages of such an action over an action in negligence have been the authorities through which this apparent rationalisation of ligence/trespass has been achieved a ell seek to test the student's knowledge and understanding of this issue. We would students to consider carefully what possible exist between an action for negligent trespass and an tort of negligence, if they are indeed alternative differences in the other
(d) Must the intention of the defendant be in some hostile As a matter of general principle battery protects only from injur against other forms of physical molestation, subject to the requirement of the absence of consent on the part of the plaintiff Just as the unwanted blow is a battery so also is an unwanted However, in the of Appeal held that is self-evident from the act itself the plaintiff must plead facts which show the contact to be hostile. The with this case is that it is by no means clear what is meant by since both the cases used by the court to illustrate what turns a(which is not actionable) into an one(which is) are cases in which there was an absence of consent to the touching, which was therefore unlawful. It may be that the view expressed in Clerk and Lindseli on Tort, 15th edn, at p. 660, remains preferable, i e., that: "on principle it would seem that the true test is not whether a hostile intent on the part of the defendant, but on the part of the plaintiff, can be whether an absence of consent inferred. If this is not so and hostility is an additional requirement to that of the absence of consent, it would be interesting to know whether or not the short-sighted surgeon who mistakenly performs be guilty of a battery a vasectomy instead of a tonsillectomy would Ih two recent cases concern the lawfulness of the sterilisation of mentally handicapped persons, hostility as an additional require- ment to the absence of consent has been rejected. See T v T[1988 wLR 189 and F v West Berkshire Health Authority[1989 2 All ER 545. HL. In the latter case, Lord Goff expressed the view, at p. 564, that