Essay Plans

Question 1

What role does the duty of care concept play in the law of negligence? Is this role useful? (FHS, 2017)

Answer 1

Argument: The DOC concept plays a central role in the negligence inquiry since it is the first part of the negligence inquiry and determines in what circumstances a defendant can or cannot be liable for their carelessness. However the imprecision and uncertainty concerning when there is/not a DOC, which varys significantly on context, means it not only provides little justificatory role in providing a normative answer to the question of why in a particular case a DOC ought to exist, but can in fact be manipulated to distort and impair on other subsequent stages of the negligence inquiry.

Main Paragraphs:

1. Lack of Precise definition
2. Psychiatric Injury and Reasonable Foreseeability
3. Proximity and the Uncertain role of policy
4. The overreach of DOC in the negligence inquiry