Bourhill v Young

Question 1

Facts.

Answer 1

Plaintiff hears a accident on the road, goes to see what happened and sees the dead motorcyclist (John Young). Bourhill sues the estate of the deceased for negligence due to the delivering of her baby being stillborn from shock.

Question 2

Lord Thankerton.

Answer 2

“Can it be said that John Young (the deceased) could reasonably have anticipated that a person, situated as was the pursuer, would be affected?”

Question 3

Muir v Glasgow Corporation - Lord Thankerton.

Answer 3

All that a person can be held bound to foresee are the reasonable and probable consequences of the failure to take care…

Question 4

Muir v Glasgow Corporation - Lord McMillan

Answer 4

Legal liability is limited to those consequences of our acts which a reasonable man of ordinary intelligence and experience so acting would have done in contemplation.

Question 5

Who is the reasonable person?

Answer 5

The reasonable man is presumed to be free both from over apprehensions and from over confidence.