Stuart v Kirkland-Veenstra

Torts – Negligence - Duty of care - Where Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic), s 10 empowered police to apprehend person who "appears to be mentally ill" if reasonable grounds for believing that person had recently attempted suicide or likely to do so - Where police came upon man who appeared to have been contemplating suicide but showed no sign of mental illness - Interaction of common law and relationship established by s 10 - Whether duty of care to prevent foreseeable harm to man at own hand - Relevance of conditions engaging exercise of statutory power - Relevance of fact that duty alleged is duty to protect person from self-harm - Relevance of general rule against duty to rescue - Relevance of vulnerability of particular class of persons - Relevance of control over source of risk to persons.

Torts – Negligence - Duty of care - Where duty alleged to arise in context of power conferred by Mental Health Act 1986, s 10 - Whether preconditions to existence of power established on facts - Whether common law duty could exist in absence of relevant power.

Torts – Breach of statutory duty - Relevance as alternative to action alleging breach of common law duty of care - Principles relevant to determining legislative intention that cause of action be available - Relevance of legislative provision for special measures to protect identifiable class of persons or property - Whether existence of discretion to exercise power inconsistent with existence of statutory duty.

Statutes – Interpretation - Whether person who has attempted suicide to be equated with person "mentally ill" - Relationship between attempted suicide and mental illness - Understanding at common law of relationship between suicide and mental illness.

Words and phrases – "mentally ill".

Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) – ss 457, 463B.

Mental Health Act 1986 (Vic) – ss 3, 8, 10.

Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) – Pt III.