When a client is sued in negligence, one of the strongest arguments available is that the injured person knew the risk and freely chose to run it — "to a willing person, no injury is done". If it works, the claim collapses entirely. But courts apply volenti narrowly, and a solicitor needs to know precisely when it bites and when it fails, because getting it wrong can cost a client the whole case.
This lesson builds that understanding step by step:
- The Defence and Its Elements — what volenti is, its all-or-nothing effect, who must prove it, and the three things they must show.
- When Consent Is Not Voluntary — why the defence rarely succeeds against employees or rescuers, and the narrow exceptions.
- Consent in Sport and Medical Treatment — what participants and patients are taken to accept, and where that implied consent runs out.
- Statutory Bars — the road traffic, business and consumer provisions that can shut the defence down entirely.
- Distinction from Contributory Negligence — how a complete defence differs from one that merely reduces damages, and why the difference matters.
By the end you will be able to spot when volenti is genuinely arguable and when it is a dead end.