Duty of Care

In Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) the 'neighbour test' was established where Lord Atkin stated that we must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which we can reasonably forsee would be likely to injure our neighbour. He also defined who our 'neighbour' is: people who are so closely and directly affected by the act that they ought to be thought about as being affected.

The neighbour test was the replaced with the three-part test, established in Caparo v Dickman (1990). It asks whether the damage was forseeable, if there is a proximate relationship between the claimant and defendant and whether it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care.

When considering forseeability, it must be forseeable to a 'reasonable person', i.e. would a reasonable person in the D's position have forseen the…