LAW 122 Lecture Notes - Objective Test, Professional Negligence In English Law, Product Liability
27 Nov 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The tort of negligence determines whether the defendant can be held liable for carelessly causing and injury to the plaintiff. Exists if the defendant is required to use reasonable care to avoid injuring the plaintiff. Without a duty of care there cannot be liability even if the defendant carelessly injured the plaintiff. To determine whether or not there is a duty of care evident, the judge might find it obvious in the case for example of a mother"s duty of care for a child. If not obvious, then the judge will ask 3 questions: was it reasonably foreseeable that the plaintiff could be injured by the defendants". Proximity: must somehow be a close and direct connection between the parties, such as a would have recognized the possibility of harming the plaintiff. Social relationship, commercial/professional relationship or direct casual connection. And if the parties shared a relationship of sufficient proximity, then a duty of care presumably will exist.
