Principles of the Law of Negligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Principles of the Law of Negligence - Essay Example The plaintiff argued that the defendant’s negligence (snail infested beer) caused her grievous emotional harm (shock) and extreme gastroenteritis. In her argument, she argued that the manufacturer was liable because he had manufactured beer that was meant for the consumption by the general public and which led to her illness. In fact, the bottle was labelled under his name, thus proving ownership of the beer and its contents. In addition, the beer was sealed before consumption meaning that the contents of the bottle (ginger beer and the snail) could be traced directly to Stevenson. Therefore, the defendant had a duty of care to Donoghue because she was directly harmed by his actions and the defendant should have had a check mechanism in place to ensure that the ginger beer was safe for public consumption. Since Stevenson failed to do this, he was liable for negligence. The plaintiff was unsuccessful in trial but her case was appealed in the House of Lords where it was ruled in her favor on grounds of the neighbor principle. In his judgement, Lord Atkins asserted that one should take reasonable care to ensure that one’s actions do not harm their neighbor.In short, one should not intentionally harm their neighbor in foresight, as they will be found to be negligent for any grievous harm inflicted on their neighbors due to their actions/ omissions. In this case, neighbors refer to people who are foreseeably affected in reasonable degree by a person’s omissions or actions.