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Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 - Negligence Case

Court Decision

In this case, Lord Atkin explained the test for establishing a duty of care:

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

Duty of care is established by replacing the defendant by a hypothetical 'reasonable man.' Would the reasonable man have foreseen the likelihood or probability of injury, not merely its possibility? A person is not liable for every injury which results from his carelessness. The damage must be reasonably foreseeable and the plaintiff must be in the area of foreseeable danger.

The concept of neighbourhood is generally described as proximity. Was there sufficient proximity between the parties such that one owes a duty of care to the other?

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