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In tort law of negligence, the defendant should have a duty of care to the plaintiff, to make the defendant liable for the plaintiff’s injuries. Under tort law of negligence, establishing that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff is the first step in making the defendant liable for his negligent conduct. Even if the defendant has acted without reasonable care, no liability will be imposed if the defendant did not owe a duty of care. Generally, every person in the society has a duty of care towards others. For instance, if there is a hole in a perron’s garden, that person is required to take steps to prevent his visitors from accidentally falling into the hole, and his failure to do so will make his liable if a visitor gets injured by falling into the hole. However, there are limitations to the general duty of protecting others. For instance, if the person who falls into the hole is a trespasser, holding the owner of the garden liable for the trespasser’s injuries will obviously be unjust. Therefore, in such a situation, the owner of the garden cannot be said to owe a duty of care to the trespasser. The courts will decide that a person is liable to the injuries suffered by another only where the person owes a duty of care to the other person. To determine whether the person owes a duty of care to the other, various tests will be used. It is well settled principle in tort law of negligence that the persons in special relationships have duty of care to each other. Therefore, the doctor will have a duty of care to his patients, a teacher will have a duty of care to his students and the manager of an inn will have a duty of care to the guests of that inn.
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