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Tort: Negligence

Risk factors in deciding breach

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 2 and 3

Overview

The four things a court weighs — likelihood, seriousness, the cost of precautions and social utility — through Bolton v Stone, Paris v Stepney, Latimer, Watt and Roe, and the rule against judging with hindsight.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

How does a higher likelihood of harm affect what the defendant must do?

Numbers

What did Latimer v AEC Ltd [1953] decide?

Key term

Name four factors a court weighs in deciding whether the standard of care was met.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name four factors a court weighs in deciding whether the standard of care was met.

    Model answer

    A court weighs the likelihood of harm and the seriousness of the possible injury. A court also weighs the cost and practicality of precautions and the social utility of the defendant's activity.

  2. 2

    What did Bolton v Stone [1951] decide?

    Model answer

    Bolton v Stone [1951] concerned a cricket ball hit out of the ground about six times in thirty years. The House of Lords held there was no breach, because the risk of injury was very small.

  3. 3

    How does a higher likelihood of harm affect what the defendant must do?

    Model answer

    A defendant must take greater precautions as the risk of harm rises. Miller v Jackson [1977] concerned cricket balls landing in a neighbouring garden several times each season. The risk there was real and foreseeable rather than remote.

  4. 4

    What did Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] decide?

    Model answer

    Paris v Stepney Borough Council [1951] concerned a workman with sight in one eye who was blinded by a metal chip. The House of Lords held the employer should have supplied goggles, because the potential injury to him was far graver.

  5. 5

    How does the seriousness of the possible harm affect the precautions required?

    Model answer

    The graver the possible injury, the greater the precautions a reasonable person takes. A known vulnerability in the claimant raises the standard owed to that claimant.

  6. 6

    What did Latimer v AEC Ltd [1953] decide?

    Model answer

    Latimer v AEC Ltd [1953] concerned a factory floor made slippery by a flood. The employer had spread sawdust over most of the floor, and closing the factory would have been out of proportion to the risk.

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