Britain's most senior judges have called for an end to "compensation culture" in a landmark ruling which decreed that individuals must take responsibility for their actions.
The Appellate Committee of the House of Lords said Britain's increasingly litigious society was interfering with civil liberties.
The law lords warned that the level of cash compensation claims had reached excessive levels.
The judgement stated: "The pursuit of an unrestrained culture of blame and compensation has many evil consequences and one is certainly the interference with the liberty of the citizen. Of course there is some risk of accidents arising out of the joie de vivre of the young, but that is no reason for imposing a grey and dull safety regime on everyone."
The judgement came in the case of John Tomlinson, who was paralysed in 1995 when he dived into a lake in Cheshire. Tomlinson sued Congleton borough council and Cheshire county council for failing to prevent him from diving in the lake.
Chris Murray, a partner at James Chapman, the law firm which represented the councils in the case, said: "The compensation culture has been on the rise. There are a lot of genuine claims, but there are also a lot of not-so-genuine claims and even fraudulent claims, which run into millions of pounds. The law is developing all the time."
