Negligence Law

Irish Negligence Law

Irish Negligence Law

Introduction

Negligence is a legal concept in the common law legal systems mostly applied in tort cases to achieve monetary compensation (damages) for physical and mental injuries (not accidents).

Negligence is a type of tort or delict (also known as a civil wrong). "Negligence" is not the same as "carelessness", because someone might be exercising as much care as they are capable of, yet still fall below the level of competence expected of them. It is the opposite of "diligence".

Through civil litigation, if an injured person proves that another person acted negligently to cause his injury, he can recover damages to compensate for his harm. Proving a case for negligence can potentially entitle the injured plaintiff to compensation for harm to their body, property, mental well-being, financial status, or intimate relationships. However, because negligence cases are very fact-specific, this general definition does not fully explain the concept of when the law will require one person to compensate another for losses caused by accidental injury. Further, the law of negligence at common law is only one aspect of the law of liability. Although resulting damages must be proven in order to recover compensation in a negligence action, the nature and extent of those damages are not the primary focus of negligence cases.

The Elements of Negligence

Since this case, a number of elements have been established in order to prove the tort of negligence. Firstly, there must be a duty of care. Secondly, there must be a breach of this duty of care. Thirdly, there must be loss or damage and fourthly, there must be a causal link between the breach of the duty of care and the loss or damage suffered.

Duty of Care

The duty of care arises in the tort of negligence, a relatively recently emerged tort. Traditionally, actions in tort were divided into trespass and trespass on the case, or simply 'case'. Trespass dealt with the situation where the injury was immediate, in other words direct and foreseeable. Actions based in case however, covered consequential injuries in the case of libel or deceit, etc. An underlying problem of this approach was that there was no fundamental principle or test that was applicable to a novel set of facts.

A broader formulation was introduced by Lord Esher (then Brett M.R.) in Heaven v Pender [1883] 11 Q.B.D. 503. This broader formulation was very much the precursor to the modern doctrine of negligence. Lord Esher, essentially proposing a doctrine of foreseeability, explained why a duty might be owed by one party not to injure another. He stated that “whenever one person is by circumstances placed in such a position with regard to another, that everyone of ordinary sense would at once recognise that if he did not use ordinary care and skill in his own conduct with regard to those circumstances he would cause danger or injury to the person or property of the other, a duty arises to use ordinary care and skill to avoid such ...