Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986

c i e
AT 3 of 1986

CONGENITAL DISABILITIES (CIVIL

LIABILITY) ACT 1986

Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986 Index


c AT 3 of 1986 Page 3

c i e
CONGENITAL DISABILITIES (CIVIL LIABILITY) ACT

1986

Index Section Page

1 Civil liability to child born disabled ............................................................................ 5
2 Liability of woman driving when pregnant................................................................ 6
3 Interpretation and other supplementary provisions ................................................. 6
4 Crown application .......................................................................................................... 7
5 Citation ............................................................................................................................. 7
ENDNOTES 9

TABLE OF LEGISLATION HISTORY 9
TABLE OF RENUMBERED PROVISIONS 9
TABLE OF ENDNOTE REFERENCES 9

Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986 Section 1


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c i e
CONGENITAL DISABILITIES (CIVIL LIABILITY) ACT

1986

Received Royal Assent: 14 February 1986
Passed: 28 February 1986
Commenced: 28 February 1986
AN ACT
to make provision as to civil liability in the case of children born
disabled in consequence of some person’s fault; and for connected purposes.
1 Civil liability to child born disabled

[P1976/28/1]
(1) If a child is born disabled as the result of such an occurrence before its
birth as is mentioned in subsection (2), and a person (other than the
child’s own mother) is under this section answerable to the child in
respect of the occurrence, the child’s disabilities are to be regarded as
damage resulting from the wrongful act of that person and actionable
accordingly at the suit of the child.
(2) An occurrence to which this section applies is one which —
(a) affected either parent of the child in his or her ability to have a
normal, healthy child; or
(b) affected the mother during her pregnancy, or affected her or the
child in the course of its birth, so that the child is born with
disabilities which would not otherwise have been present.
(3) Subject to the following subsections, a person (here referred to as “the
defendant”) is answerable to the child if he was liable in tort to the
parent or would, if sued in due time, have been so; and it is no answer
that there could not have been such liability because the parent suffered
no actionable injury, if there was a breach of legal duty which,
accompanied by injury, would have given rise to the liability.
(4) In the case of an occurrence preceding the time of conception, the
defendant is not answerable to the child if at that time either or both of
the parents knew the risk of their child being born disabled (that is to
say, the particular risk created by the occurrence); but should it be the
Section 2 Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986


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child’s father who is the defendant, this subsection does not apply if he
knew of the risk and the mother did not.
(5) The defendant is not answerable to the child, for anything he did or
omitted to do when responsible in a professional capacity for treating or
advising the parent, if he took reasonable care having due regard to then
received professional opinion applicable to the particular class of case;
but this does not mean that he is answerable only because he departed
from received opinion.
(6) Liability to the child under this section may be treated as having been
excluded or limited by contract made with the parent affected, to the
same extent and subject to the same restrictions as liability in the parent’s
own case; and a contract term which could have been set up by the
defendant in an action by the parent, so as to exclude or limit his liability
to him or her, operates in the defendant’s favour to the same, but not
greater, extent in an action under this section by the child.
(7) If in the child’s action under this section it is shown that the parent
affected shared the responsibility for the child being born disabled, the
damages are to be reduced to such extent as the court thinks just and
equitable having regard to the extent of the parent’s responsibility.
2 Liability of woman driving when pregnant

[P1976/28/2]
A woman driving a motor vehicle when she knows (or ought reasonably to
know) herself to be pregnant is to be regarded as being under the same duty to
take care for the safety of her unborn child as the law imposes on her with
respect to the safety of other people; and if in consequence of her breach of that
duty her child is born with disabilities which would not otherwise have been
present, those disabilities are to be regarded as damage resulting from her
wrongful act and actionable accordingly at the suit of the child.
3 Interpretation and other supplementary provisions

[P1976/28/4]
(1) References in this Act to a child being born disabled or with disabilities
are to its being born with any deformity, disease or abnormality,
including predisposition (whether or not susceptible of immediate
prognosis) to physical or mental defect in the future.
(2) In this Act —
(a) “born
” means born alive (the moment of a child’s birth being
when it first has a life separate from its mother), and “birth
” has a
corresponding meaning; and
(b) “motor vehicle
” means a mechanically propelled vehicle intended
or adapted for use on roads.
(3) Liability to a child under section 1 or 2 is to be regarded —
Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986 Section 4


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(a) as respects all its incidents and any matters arising or to arise out
of it; and
(b) subject to any contrary context or intention, for the purpose of
construing references in enactments and documents to personal or
bodily injuries and cognate matters,
as liability for personal injuries sustained by the child immediately after
its birth.
(4) No damages shall be recoverable under either of those sections in respect
of any loss of expectation of life unless the child lives for at least 48
hours.
(5) This Act applies in respect of births after (but not before) its passing, and
in respect of any such birth it replaces any law in force before its passing,
whereby a person could be liable to a child in respect of disabilities with
which it might be born; but in section 1(3) the expression “liable in tort”
does not include any reference to liability by virtue of this Act, or to
liability by virtue of any such law.
(6) Section 1 of this Act does not affect the operation of the Nuclear
Installations Act 1965 (an Act of Parliament) (which provides rights to
compensation in respect of nuclear occurrences) as that Act has effect
from time to time in the Island, as to liability for, and compensation in
respect of, injury or damage caused by occurrences involving nuclear
matter or the emission of ionising radiations.
4 Crown application

[P1976/28/5]
This Act binds the Crown.
5 Citation

[P1976/28/6]
This Act may be cited as the Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986.
Congenital Disabilities (Civil Liability) Act 1986 Endnotes


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ENDNOTES

Table of Legislation History

Legislation Year and No Commencement






Table of Renumbered Provisions

Original Current






Table of Endnote References