Commercial law



Commercial law

Tort law is the law of personal injury. It most commonly involves one person infringing the rights of another in circumstances that give rise to legal liability. It should be noted that injury could include financial loss, personal injury or physical damage to property. Tort Law is sectioned into multiple areas. Negligence in torts is when a person fails to take reasonable care and, as a result, injures another person.

The Donoghue v Stevenson case involved a lady who had bought a bottle of ginger beer for her friend. After drinking the majority of the drink, the friend realised there was a decomposed snail in the bottle. She became extremely ill and developed gastroenteritis and a nervous condition. At the time, she could not sue the manufacturer for breach of contract because she did not enter into an agreement with the manufacturer. It was her friend that entered into an agreement by buying the bottle of ginger beer. The principle of tort did not allow consumers to sue manufacturers for injuries. Despite this, Donoghue argued that manufacturers should be liable to consumers for their faulty products. Donoghue was successful in her claim and her case now serves as a precedent for all negligence cases to date and, most importantly, ensures consumers have legal rights.

However, before a person can successfully sue for negligence, a number of tests have to be undertaken. One of the first is classified as the three elements of negligence, and consequently it ensures that the three elements necessary to sue for negligence are established. These elements are firstly, that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care, secondly, that the duty of care was breached and thirdly, that the plaintiff suffered damage as a result.

Prior to the Donoghue v Stevenson case, a duty of care was established if the action of negligence fell into a special relationship category. Many claims were dismissed because the necessary relationship didn't exist. It has been said that this relationship requirement was designed to do this, thus limiting the number of cases where people could sue for negligence. However, with the revelation of the Donoghue v Stevenson case, the judges ruled that one could get compensation for injuries suffered if they were the result of another's negligence. As Lord Aitkin said in the judgement in Donoghue v Stevenson, “You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. My neighbour, then, is a person who is so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought to have them in contemplation as being affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions in question.” In order to run a civilised society, he claimed, it would be unethical to deny a legal remedy where there is a social wrong. In some cases, it is common sense that the plaintiff would be directly affected by the defendant's action, so these relationships are now recognised as ...