The Fear of Future Illness: An Analytical Comparison of English and French Law

The occurrence of multiple health-related catastrophes in the last30years has left a long-lasting imprint in people’s minds, resulting in the publicbecoming more aware of the risks surrounding them. As a consequence, a risein claims relating to the fear of contracting a future disease has mirrored thepublic’s concern for their health in different EU Member States. In this paper,the author compares the judicial treatment of claims for fear of future illness inEnglish and French Law and concludes that neither of the approaches issatisfactory to protect the interests of the parties involved. French courts haveshown a flexible approach, stretching the functions of tort law to its limits,while English courts have taken an extremely rigid position on these claims,reducing the ambit of tort law to almost nothing. To reach this conclusion, theauthor analyses the key cases in both legal systems. Based on this analysis, theauthor then tries to find a compromise approach, setting out a basic frameworkwhich could limit legal uncertainty while protecting the interests of both clai-mants and defendants.