Question:medium

Volenti non fit injuria is a:

Updated On: Jul 13, 2026
  • General defence
  • Particular defence
  • Not a defence
  • Defence in Tort law
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The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

Defences in tort law are usually grouped into two buckets, general defences that can be raised against almost any tort, and particular defences that only answer one specific tort. Sorting volenti non fit injuria into the right bucket answers this question.

  1. General defence: volenti non fit injuria applies whenever a plaintiff has freely and knowingly consented to face a known risk, whether the claim arises out of negligence, trespass to person, or another tort altogether. The fact that it cuts across different kinds of tortious claims, rather than being tied to just one, is what places it in the general defence category alongside act of God, inevitable accident, necessity, private defence, and statutory authority.
  2. Particular defence: a defence earns the label particular only when it is built for one specific tort and does not transfer to others, justification in defamation cases is a good example. Volenti non fit injuria has no such single-tort limitation, it can be raised in a wide range of claims wherever consent to risk is shown.
  3. Not a defence: if this were correct, a defendant sued after a plaintiff got hurt while voluntarily taking part in a risky activity, say a sparring match or an adventure sport, would have no way to point to that consent at all, but courts routinely accept exactly this argument to defeat or cut down liability, which shows the maxim clearly does operate as a defence.
  4. Defence in Tort law: this phrasing is not wrong, but it is too vague to be the best answer, since it does not tell us whether the defence is general or tied to one tort, the more precise and complete classification is that it is a general defence.

Sorting the maxim by whether it can be used across multiple torts or just one shows that it belongs with the general defences, not with any single-tort exception, and certainly not outside the category of defences altogether.

The correct answer is General defence.

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