Duty of care

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1978

Principle established: Lord Wilberforce's two-stage test: (1) sufficient proximity/foreseeability; (2) any policy reasons to negate or limit the duty.

Ghana · 2024

Principle established: Review jurisdiction is sparingly exercised and will be dismissed if the applicant fails to demonstrate an exceptional circumstance or a fundamental error in the original judgment.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: Even if a driver improperly enters a street, an oncoming driver remains under a duty of care to avoid a collision if it can be averted by ordinary care.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: A driver owes a duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid a collision even when another vehicle has wrongfully entered the roadway.

Kenya · 2018

Principle established: In a road traffic accident claim, the plaintiff must prove negligence on the part of the defendant's driver to recover damages for injuries sustained.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1856

Principle established: Negligence is the omission to do something a reasonable man would do, or doing something a prudent and reasonable man would not do (Alderson B).

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1990

Principle established: The three-stage test: foreseeability of harm, proximity, and that it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty.

United Kingdom · 1990

Principle established: A duty of care arises only if harm is foreseeable, there is proximity between parties, and imposing the duty is fair, just, and reasonable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1962

Principle established: Careless instructions that cause physical injury can give rise to liability.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1927

Principle established: Negligent statements that cause harm to the person are actionable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1932

Principle established: Lord Atkin's neighbour principle: take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.

United Kingdom · 1932

Principle established: A manufacturer owes a duty of care to the ultimate consumer to ensure products are free from defects likely to cause injury, regardless of a contractual relationship.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1950-56

Principle established: An employer is vicariously liable for the tortious acts of an employee done in the course of employment, including unauthorized modes of carrying out authorized tasks.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1932

Principle established: Lord Dunedin: people must guard against reasonable probabilities, but not fantastic possibilities.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1964

Principle established: For a domestic animal, scienter liability needs knowledge of a vicious or abnormal tendency. Playfulness normal to the species is not enough.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1922

Principle established: A tempting danger can be an 'allurement' to children. An occupier must take more care for children than for adults.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: A driver is negligent if he fails to avert colliding with a pedestrian who has already progressed sufficiently into the roadway to be clearly visible.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1963

Principle established: A pedestrian who has advanced sufficiently into the road is not guilty of contributory negligence for failing to check traffic where an oncoming driver could have avoided him.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1964

Principle established: A duty of care in making statements arises where there is a special relationship, reliance and an assumption of responsibility.

United Kingdom · 1963

Principle established: A duty of care exists for negligent misstatements causing pure economic loss where a special relationship and assumption of responsibility exist, unless effectively disclaimed.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1970

Principle established: Lord Reid: the neighbour principle should apply unless there is some justification or valid explanation for its exclusion.

Sierra Leone — Supreme Court · 1961

Principle established: Res ipsa loquitur cannot apply without evidence that the vehicle was under the management of the defendant or their servant, and affidavits filed in interlocutory proceedings cannot be admitted contrary to court rules.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1920-36

Principle established: A gratuitous agent who does not profess special skill is only bound to exercise the ordinary care of a reasonably prudent person.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1846

Principle established: A keeper who knows (scienter) of an animal's dangerous tendency is liable for harm it causes without proof of negligence.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1983

Principle established: Lord Wilberforce: consider the class of claimant (close ties), proximity in time and space, and the means by which the shock was caused.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1971

Principle established: The standard of care is objective; inexperience is no excuse (Lord Denning MR).

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1861

Principle established: Generally no one is liable for an independent contractor (Williams J), subject to exceptions.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1947

Principle established: At common law there was no duty to fence land to keep ordinary domestic animals off the highway.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1972-73

Principle established: A defendant who pleads the defence of inevitable accident in a negligence action bears the burden of proving that the accident occurred without any negligence or intention on their part.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1952

Principle established: A trial judge determining whether an employer provided a safe system of work must base findings strictly on evidence adduced at trial rather than unexamined personal knowledge and experience.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1972-73

Principle established: An employer breaches the common law duty to provide competent staff if it allows a workman to perform tasks for which he has been professionally certified as incompetent.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1972

Principle established: An employer breaches its common law duty of care if it directs or allows a workman to perform duties for which he has been declared medically incompetent.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1988

Principle established: The Privy Council held that the Anns two-stage test is not in all circumstances a suitable guide to a duty of care.