Cook v Stark
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 15 October 1886 |
| Date | 15 October 1886 |
| Docket Number | No. 1. |
| Court | Court of Session |
Lord Young, Lord Craighill, Lord Rutherfurd Clark.
ReparationMaster and ServantPower of manager to delegate his duty of superintendence.
ReparationMaster and ServantContributory negligence.
While the manager of a quarry may in ordinary circumstances delegate his duty of personally superintending particular operations in the quarry, yet, if the operation be one of peculiar difficulty, danger, and rarity, it is his duty personally to superintend it, and if he neglects to do so, and one of the workmen taking part in the operation is injured, the fact of his absence will be a ground for rendering his employer liable in damages to the injured workman, under the Employers Liability Act, 1880.
Held that an ordinary labourer in a quarry, who, along with a skilled quarryman appointed by the manager, was employed in extracting an unusually large unexploded blast charge, which was an operation of peculiar difficulty, danger, and rarity, and was injured by an explosion caused probably by the skilled workman having made use of a steel jumper instead of a copper needle, was not barred by contributory negligence from obtaining damages from his employer.
On 15th July 1885 William Cook, a labourer in the service of Alexander Stark, quarrymaster, Auchinstarry Quarry, Kilsyth, was engaged along with James Stark in the quarry in extracting an unusually large charge of gunpowder which had missed fire about an hour before. James Stark was a brother of Alexander Stark, and also of William Stark, the manager of the quarry, and was a quarryman of experience. Stark had begun the operation with a copper needle, but before Cook had come up (to take the place of another workman) had exchanged that for a steel jumper. Cook held the jumper in the bore, and poured water into the bore, and Stark struck the jumper with a hammer. After this had gone on for about half an hour the charge exploded, probably in consequence of a steel jumper having been used instead of a copper instrument, and Cook's left hand was blown off, and his eyesight injured. He brought an action against Alexander Stark, under the Employers Liability Act, 1880, in the Sheriff Court at Stirling, averring that the injuries were due to the fault of William Stark, the defender's manager.
In defence Alexander Stark maintained (1) that James Stark and the pursuer were engaged in the operation of extracting the charge without the authority or knowledge of William Stark, the manager; (2) that if William Stark knew that they were so engaged he did not know that they were using a steel, not a copper instrument, and that he was entitled to trust to the skill and discretion of his brother James in the management of the operation without himself giving it any personal superintendence; and (3) that the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Dr Colin Hutchinson v The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
...duty on CCGs in relation to improving the quality of services and outcomes in connection with prevention, diagnosis or treatment (section 14(R)(1) and (2)) is framed as a duty to exercise their statutory functions “ with a view to” securing such objectives. No further detail is set out. In ......
-
D'orta-Ekenaike v Victoria Legal Aid
...& Co v Simons [2002] 1 AC 615 at 724 per Lord Hope of Craighead. 543Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 53 and Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW), Pt 14 r 1; Supreme Court ( Miscellaneous Civil Proceedings) Rules 1998 (Vic), O 2; Commercial Causes Act 1910 (Q), s 544 See for example, Supreme Court ......
-
Morrow v Fields of Life Trust Ltd
...6 of his judgment (quoted in para. 20 above). I do not believe that a distinction of that kind can plausibly be said to arise. Under O. 14 r. 1, a partnership may be sued in the name of the partnership. It is unnecessary to name the individual partners. The effect of 0. 14 r.1 is that proce......
-
R Anna Hinsull v NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group
...services; (b) the safety of the services; and (c) the quality of the experience undergone by patients. In discharging its duty under section 14R (1), a CCG must have regard to any commissioning guidance published by NHS England under section 14Z8 of the Act: see section 14Z8 (2). 35 Other g......