Negligence—when is the duty of care breached?

Produced in partnership with Professor Richard A Buckley M.A, D.Phil, DCL, Oxford of University of Reading

Practice notes

Negligence—when is the duty of care breached?

Produced in partnership with Professor Richard A Buckley M.A, D.Phil, DCL, Oxford of University of Reading

Practice notes

Having established that a Duty of care exists (see Practice Note: Negligence—when does a duty of care arise?), it is then necessary to consider whether or not there has been a breach of that duty. This will depend on a number of factors outlined below and considered against the general background of reasonableness objectively considered.

Breach of duty of care—reasonableness

In order to determine whether a duty of care has been broken, the law adopts the artificial objective standard of the ‘reasonable person’, which involves ignoring the realities of the Defendant's situation in so far as their capacities differ from that standard (Glasgow Corpn, per Lord Macmillan).

Breach of duty of care—objectivity

The objective requirement of a reasonable level of competence applies to skills, which can only be acquired by training and effort, as well as to basic attributes, which most people can be expected to possess.

Thus, learner-drivers of motor cars owe the same duty to drive with the degree of skill

Professor Richard A Buckley, M.A, D.Phil, DCL, Oxford

Barrister (Lincoln's Inn), Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Reading

Professor Buckley is an Emeritus Professor of Law 2008 -. Formerly Professor of Law, University of Reading 1993-2008; Fellow and Tutor in Law, Mansfield College, Oxford 1975-1993; Lecturer in Laws, King's College, London 1970-1975. Leverhulme Research Fellow, 2001. Publications include The Law of Negligence and Nuisance, 5th ed (2011, ��Ƶ); Illegality and Public Policy, 2nd ed (2009, Sweet & Maxwell); The Law of Nuisance, 2nd ed (1995, Butterworths). Professor Buckley is also a contributing editor to Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, Halsbuy's Laws of England, Atkin's Court Forms, Fleming's The Law of Torts, 10th ed (2011), and formerly to Salmond and Heuston on Torts.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Negligence definition

What does Negligence mean?

Negligence is 'the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do' (Blythe v Birmingham Waterworks (1856) 11 Exch 781, at p 784). It is accepted that the test for breach of duty is objective, in the sense that the individual character and mental and physical features of the particular defendant are usually irrelevant.

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