English Tort Law - Negligence

Negligence

See also: Negligence and Professional negligence

Negligence is a tort which targets a breach of duty by one person to another. The famous landmark case of Donoghue v Stevenson, in which Mrs Donoghue, the claimant, consumed part of a drink containing a decomposed snail while in a public house in Paisley, Scotland. The snail was not visible, as the bottle of ginger beer in which it was contained was opaque. Neither her friend, who bought it for her, nor the shopkeeper who sold it were aware of its presence. Donoghue sued the manufacturer, Mr Stevenson for her consequent illness, using negligence as, not having purchased the drink herself, the little consumer protection legislation available in 1932 was inapplicable. The members of the House of Lords agreed that Mrs. Donoghue had a valid claim, but disagreed as to why such a claim should exist. Lord MacMillan, as above, thought this should be treated as a new product liability case. Lord Atkin argued that the law should recognise a unifying principle that we owe a duty of reasonable care to our neighbour. He quoted the Bible in support of his argument, specifically the general, biblical principle that "love thy neighbour."

"The liability for negligence… is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay… The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour."

Thus, in the world of law, he created the doctrine that we should not harm our neighbours. The elements of negligence are:

1. A duty of care (see Donoghue v Stevenson)
2. Breach of that duty (see Nettleship v Weston)
3. Breach causing harm in fact (see Smith v Leech Brain & Co.)
4. The harm must be not too remote a consequence of the breach (see The Wagon Mound (No. 2))