WS2 - Breach of duty

Question 1

Which case is the definition of breach given in, and what does it say?

Answer 1

Alderson B in Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks (1856)

“Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do.”

Question 2

When considering what a reasonable person would do in a particular situation ( the ‘reasonable man’ test ) we must have regard for… & not define a reasonable man as….

Answer 2

AC Billings & Sons Ltd v Riden [1958]

we must have regard to human nature as we know it, and, if one thinks that in a particular situation the great majority of people would have behaved in one way, it would not be right to say that a reasonable man would or should have behaved in a different way. A ‘reasonable man’ does not mean a paragon of circumspection. “

Question 3

Glasgow v Corporation

A pithy expression of what it means to be a reasonable man.

Answer 3

“Some persons are by nature unduly timorous and imagine every path beset with lions. Others, of more robust temperament, fail to foresee or nonchalantly disregard even the most obvious dangers. The reasonable man is presumed to be free (from) both”