ABSTRACT
No tort provides a direct remedy for loss arising from a flawed exercise of public power. However, it is not uncommon for a tort claim against government to raise questions regarding compliance or noncompliance with limits applicable to a statutory power. This article demonstrates that liability in these contexts might come to turn on aspects of principle and procedure that seem more at home in public law than private, including references to administrative law’s ‘grounds’ of review, concepts of jurisdictional error and invalidity, and limitations on the availability and effect of public law relief. Appreciating these complexities can assist litigants and the courts to anticipate potential points of tension between public and private law, and to better understand the implications of framing proceedings as a direct or collateral challenge to the legality of government action.
Rock, Ellen, Public Law Breaches and Private Law Wrongs: Government liability in tort for acts beyond power (2026) 49(2) Melbourne University Law Review (forthcoming) (June 1, 2025).
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