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Negligence case law explains how the concept of duty of care evolved gradually to cover the producer’s liability for defective products. For the development of law of negligence, case law has contributed to a great extent. The origin of the law of negligence as a separate area in tort law is often discussed together with the decision in the land mark case Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100. It was this case which first gave legal recognition to the duty of care owed by a person to everyone who are affected by his conduct. Mrs Donoghue went to a café with a friend of hers in Paisley, Renfrewshire, and ordered a bottle of ginger beer for their consumption. The bottle of ginger beer they were served with was opaque, and the café owner poured part of it to Mrs Donoghue’s tumbler. After she drank it, her friend poured the rest of the bottle to the tumbler, and the decomposed parts of a snail dropped out of the bottle to the tumbler. The two did not pay for the ginger beer and thus no contract was made between Mrs Donoghue and the café owner. Later, Mrs Donoghue complained of stomach-ache and severe shock and filed an action against the David Stevenson, who was the manufacturer of ginger beer and claimed damages. The House of Lords upheld Mrs Donoghue’s contention and awarded damages, stating that the manufacturer owed a duty of care to Mrs Donohue, which had been breeched. Even though the manufacture could not foresee that Mrs Donoghue herself would consume ginger beer, according to Lord Atkin’s neighbour principle, the manufacturer would have reasonably foreseen the risks in producing ginger beer which was not suitable for human consumption. However, the English law concept of duty of care predates Donoghue v Stevenson, yet the courts were very hesitant to use duty of care unless there were exceptional circumstances warranting its application, for instance existence of contractual obligations between the parties. In a similar case which was filed in the Inner House of the Court of Session prior to the Donoghue case, the same solicitor who appeared for Mrs Donoghue tried to establish liability against another beer manufacturer, on the basis of the allegation that there were parts of a decomposed mouse inside a bottle of ginger beer. The case was rejected by the court stating that there was no legal authority to allow damages in such a situation. The decision in Donoghue v Stevenson was thus groundbreaking, as it was the first case where the plaintiff could successfully establish duty of care on the part of the defendant, not withstanding of the fact that there were no pre-existing obligations between the plaintiff and the defendant.
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