The Neighbour Principle

The Neighbour Principle

The notion that an individual may be owed a Duty of Care by another, despite there being no prior relationship or interaction, was established at common law in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson, in 1932. Here, a Duty of Care was found to be owed by a manufacturer to an end consumer, for negligence in the production of his goods. Mrs Donoghue’s claim for damages for gastroenteritis and nervous shock were allowed, where a ginger beer manufacturer had negligently allowed a snail into a bottle, which she had consumed. Lord Atkin established liability on the basis that a neighbour principle existed between the two parties, to ensure reasonable care was taken in the production of the ginger beer, so as not to cause Mrs Donoghue any unreasonable harm:

There must be, and is, some general conception of relations giving rise to a Duty of Care, of which the particular cases found in the books are but instances. … The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer’s question: Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be – persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions that are called in question

Lord Atkin’s speech established a neighbour principle, or a general duty that individuals must take reasonable care in their actions or omissions, so as not to cause harm to others proximate to them. It did not matter that Mrs Donoghue was unidentified or unknown to the manufacturer; as the type of harm which occurred was foreseeable through the negligence of the ginger beer manufacturer.