Remedy for Human Rights Abuses under Tort and International Law

This second volume examines laws relating to the civil liabilities of corporations and states in connection with torts or other breaches of international law and human rights law. It illustrates how particular legal principles or rules can be applied or developed to promote corporate accountability, with legal duties that arise under tort law or statutory law. Businesses operate within particular legal regulatory regimes and also within the framework of obligations imposed in tort law. Such laws aim to shape or constrain behaviour for the protection of others in society. There are also environmental protection laws which aim to prevent the release of noxious or hazardous substances, and occupational health and safety laws for the protection of employees. The law of negligence in tort imposes general obligations on persons to take reasonable care to prevent harm to others in circumstances where there is a duty of care. Companies, as legal persons, are required to comply with such legal obligations.The book looks at the role of courts in upholding human rights obligations and providing a forum to resolve corporate human rights abuses issues. If the state does not regulate a specific issue of corporate human rights violations, then the court will address any lacuna in the domestic law by having recourse to (I) rules of international law; (II) general principles of international human rights law; (III) general principles of human rights law common to the major legal systems of the world; (IV) general principles of law that is in agreement with the fundamental requirements of rule of law, and the protection of human dignity and justice; and (V) the general principle of a duty of care (tort of negligence). The book will help lawyers, scholars, and students to see how corporate human rights violations can involve multiple legal principles.