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“He that thinks he can afford to be negligent is not far from being poor.” Samuel Johnson. The law of negligence is of great practical importance in our society. Its principles are applied by the courts to an ever-greater variety of situations in our lives. In these situations, the person who has suffered the physical injury, property damage, or financial loss (plaintiff) may claim monetary compensation (damages) from the person who has caused the loss (defendant) by taking the matter to court if the wrongdoer has refused to pay reasonable compensation. There are three (3) elements to determine whether the defendant has been negligent, and the plaintiff must prove these to a judge on the balance of probability. The elements are: Ř The defendant must owe a duty of care to the plaintiff Ř The defendant must breach this duty Ř Damage to the plaintiff must be caused by the breach of duty of care. Once a court decides that a duty of care exists, the next question is whether or not the defendant has breached that duty. To decide this, it is necessary to identify the standard of care, which the defendant is required to meet. When a defendant breaches his/her duty of care, he or she is not behaving as a reasonable person is expected to behave. In order to decide whether the defendant’s actions have fallen below a reasonable standard of care, judges use what is commonly referred to as the ‘reasonable persons test’. This test was stated as follows by Viscount Alderson in the case of Blyth v Waterworks Co (1843-1860) All ER 478: “Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do” If the plaintiff is successful in proving that the defendant has been negligent, the judge will usually award the plaintiff one or both of the following major remedies: 1.
Approximate Word count = 1097
Approximate Pages = 4.4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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