Negligence in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • M'Alister or Donoghue (Pauper) v Stevenson
    • House of Lords
    • 26 May 1932

    You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.

    In the daily contacts of social and business life human beings are thrown into or place themselves in an infinite variety of relationships with their fellows and the law can refer only to the standards of the reasonable man in order to determine whether any particular relationship gives rise to a duty to take care as between those who stand in that relationship to each other. The criterion of judgment must adjust and adapt itself to the changing circumstances of life.

  • Maynard v West Midlands Regional Health Authority
    • House of Lords
    • 05 May 1983

    My Lords, even before considering the reasons given by the majority of the Court of Appeal for reversing the findings of negligence, I have to say that a judge's "preference" for one body of distinguished professional opinion to another also professionally distinguished is not sufficient to establish negligence in a practitioner whose actions have received the seal of approval of those whose opinions, truthfully expressed, honestly held.

  • Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire
    • House of Lords
    • 28 April 1988

    In some instances the imposition of liability may lead to the exercise of a function being carried on in a detrimentally defensive frame of mind. A great deal of police time, trouble and expense might be expected to have to be put into the preparation of the defence to the action and the attendance of witnesses at the trial. The result would be a significant diversion of police manpower and attention from their most important function, that of the suppression of crime.

  • Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw
    • House of Lords
    • 01 March 1956

    In my judgment, the employee must in all cases prove his case by the ordinary standard of proof in civil actions: he must make it appear at least that on a balance of probabilities the breach of duty caused or materially contributed to his injury.

  • Anns v Merton London Borough Council
    • House of Lords
    • 12 May 1977

    First one has to ask whether, as between the alleged wrongdoer and the person who has suffered damage there is a sufficient relationship of proximity or neighbourhood such that, in the reasonable contemplation of the former, carelessness on his part may be likely to cause damage to the latter—in which case a prima facie duty of care arises.

  • Dorset Yacht Company Ltd v Home Office
    • House of Lords
    • 06 May 1970

    Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] A.C. 562 may be regarded as a milestone, and the well-known passage in Lord Atkin's speech should I think be regarded as a statement of principle. It is not to be treated as if it were a statutory definition. But I think that the time has come when we can and should say that it ought to apply unless there is some justification or valid explanation for its exclusion.

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Books & Journal Articles
  • Negligence
    • Construction Law. Volume II - Third Edition
    • Julian Bailey
    • 855-957
  • ADVOCATES' IMMUNITY FROM NEGLIGENCE ACTION
    • No. 1-2, February 1992
    • Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance
    • 193-199
    After considering the circumstances in which advocates' immunity from liability in negligence exist, the paper looks at the reasons for the continued existence of the rule and, in particular, the g...
  • Negligence, Public Bodies, and Ruthlessness
    • No. 72-6, November 2009
    • The Modern Law Review
    The Law Commission has concluded in a recent consultation paper (‘Administrative Redress’) that claimants are able to sue public bodies successfully in negligence in an unacceptably wide range of c...
  • Gross Negligence Manslaughter by Omission
    • No. 82-2, April 2018
    • Journal of Criminal Law, The
    • 0000
    There has been much academic debate concerning criminal liability for omissions and the extent to which such liability should be extended. The focus here concerns a recent, unreported, conviction f...
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Law Firm Commentaries
  • Gross negligence
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    It is rare for an employer to rely on an employee's negligence as a sufficient reason to dismiss. This is particularly the case where there has been a one-off error. Also, it is likely that a more ...
  • Employer Negligence
    • Mondaq United Kingdom
  • Can Gross Negligence Constitute Gross Misconduct?
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    The Court of Appeal (CA) in Adesokan v Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 22 considered whether an employee’s failure to act constituted gross misconduct. Mr Adesokan, a long-serving...
  • Corporate Trustees: how gross must negligence be?
    • JD Supra United Kingdom
    Surprisingly, the distinction between negligence and gross negligence in English contract and trust law is unclear. On one view, reflected in the older cases, there is little or no difference at all.
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Forms
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