Volenti is a complete defence and will remove all legal consequences from the defendant.
"It requires a freelyentered and voluntaryagreement by the claimant, in full knowledge of the circumstances"
There are three elements to volenti:
Voluntary
Agreement
Knowledge
Voluntary must be freely entered. If the claimant is not in a position to exercise free choice, the defence will not succeed.
Voluntary relationships is normally seen in employment relationships and rescuers and suicide.
The agreement must be express or implied. An implied agreement may exist where the defendant shows a willingness to accept the legal risks as well as the physical ones.
Nettleship v Weston
The claimant must have knowledge of the full nature and extent of the risk.
Morris v Murray
A rescuer is not regarded as having freely and voluntarily accepted the risk of injury.
Haynes v Harwood
A participant in sporting events/games is taken to consent to the risk of injury which occurs in the course of ordinary performance of the sport.
