Negligence is one of the most important and common torts in the law. The word negligence means “careless behaviour”. A tort is classified as a civil wrong and is suffered by someone at the hands of another individual who fails to take care or avoid a foreseeable risk that a reasonable person would regard as one. In several cases a contractual relationship is present between the parties, for example, a doctor and his patient, teacher and student. Such contractual relationships are the main seeds that allowed claims for negligence to grow and succeed.
The case of Donoghue V Stevenson 1932 is held to be a very important case in western law, as the tort of negligence began with Lord Atkin’s astonishing judgment regarding the case. The famous case is also known as ‘the snail in the bottle case’, which took place in Paisley, Scotland. The case had opened doors to an area of civil law that was very wide and untested. The case demonstrated that Stevenson should be responsible for the well- being of every individual who purchased his product and thus was liable for the injuries caused to Ms Donoghue. The case established many legal principles and precedents.
Firstly, the judgement of the House of Lords affirmed that negligence is a tort. A claimant had the right to take civil actions against the defendant if the defendant’s negligence caused any harm to the claimant. Prior to this case proving negligence was very hard and the claimant had to prove the contractual relationship