civil liability of good samaritans and volunteers - Law Reform ...

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circumstances in which a duty to intervene and rescue have been imposed bydecisions of the courts and in specific legislation.(1) The Good Samaritan and the moral duty to intervene2.04 The concept of a person being under an obligation to rescue or carefor another person, or in other words to volunteer to help a person who is inneed, has its origins in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan that oneshould love one‟s neighbour as he or she would love themselves. 3 This parablesets out the religious and moral doctrine which teaches that in order to love “thyneighbour as thyself” one must show compassion towards all other people. Theparable of the Good Samaritan, then, supports a moral obligation on all personsto rescue another person in need. One should feel morally compelled as abystander who can swim, to dive into a river to save a drowning person.Similarly, persons who are medically qualified or trained in first aid shouldrender treatment to someone in distress.2.05 In the biblical telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, inanswering the lawyer‟s question of “who is my neighbour?” Jesus told the storyof a man - presumed to be Jewish - who was travelling between Jerusalem andJericho, who fell among thieves, who stripped and wounded him and departed,leaving him half dead. Both a priest and a Levite (who might be described aspillars of the Jewish community at that time) passed him by. But a man fromSamaria (the original “Good Samaritan”), and who would at that time have beenon unfriendly terms with the Jewish community, saw him and had compassionon him. He went to him and bound up his wounds and carried him to an inn andtook care of him. On the following morning when he departed, he gave somemoney to the innkeeper, and asked him to take care of the injured man. Jesusstated that the neighbour was the person who showed mercy to the injured manand that we are morally obliged to do likewise. The Commission notes that theparable, in effect, therefore, places a moral demand on all persons to help aneighbour who is in need of help. 434The Bible, New Testament, Gospel of St Luke 10:25-37.In New York in December 2007, a 20 year old Muslim Bangladeshi accountancystudent, Hassan Askari, was hailed as a modern-day “Good Samaritan” when hecame to the aid of three Jewish people who were attacked by a group of 10 menon a train. It appeared that the group of 10 men – presumed to be Christian – hadbeen yelling “Merry Christmas” on the train and that the Jewish people wishedthem a “Happy Chanukah.” The group of 10 then violently attacked the threeJewish people and, at this stage, Mr Askari intervened to assist, allowing one ofthe people being attacked to pull the emergency cord and alert the police. MrAskari was reported to have received “two black eyes and a sore nose - but noregrets.” He was subsequently conferred with awards by representatives of the18
2.06 In determining whether the moral duty to intervene to assist anotherperson in danger should be translated into a legal duty to rescue, courts indifferent countries have often referred to the biblical story of the “GoodSamaritan.” 5 Indeed, legislation to deal with the civil liability, if any, of thosewho intervene to assist others in danger is often given the title “Good SamaritanAct,” and this was used in the 2005 Private Members Bill that preceded theAttorney General‟s request to the Commission. 6(2) The Good Samaritan and a general legal duty to intervene2.07 Many moral principles can, of course, be translated into broadlycomparable legal prohibitions so that, for example, the moral perspectivesconcerning killing and stealing largely translate into comparable legalprohibitions on homicide and theft. Equally, not all moral principles can betranslated into legal principles. In that respect, the majority of common lawStates (the family of legal systems derived from the British legal system),including Ireland, do not impose a general legal duty to intervene, whether as a“Good Samaritan”, to rescue somebody who might be in trouble or to interveneas a volunteer of any kind. Common law States have, in general, limited thelaw to stating that, if the person decides to rescue or assist (to be a GoodSamaritan or volunteer in that sense), the rescuer must do so with all due careand that, if he or she causes injury arising from carelessness (negligence), civilliability could be imposed in that context. 72.08 By contrast, many civil law States (the family of legal systems derivedfrom the Code-based systems of Continental Europe) and other States (forexample, those based on Sharia law) have imposed positive legal duties tointervene to rescue. A positive duty to intervene is included in the legislativecodes of Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,Jewish community and by the mayor of New York. Seehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7149916.stm. This individual story ofassistance of those in danger is replicated many times in Ireland, many of whichare publicly recognised through, for example, Rehab‟s “People of the Year”awards.567For example, Buch v Amory Manufacturing Co, 69 NH 257 (1897) (United States:New Hampshire Supreme Court) and Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562(United Kingdom: House of Lords).It is even notable that one of the proprietary brands of automated externaldefibrillators (AEDs) in regular use in Ireland is called the “Samaritan® Paddefibrillator.”The duty of care that arises where the individual chooses to intervene orvolunteer is discussed in Chapter 3, below.19
Page 1: ReportCivil liabilityof goodsamarit
Page 4 and 5: LAW REFORM COMMISSION‟S ROLEThe L
Page 6 and 7: LAW REFORM RESEARCH STAFFDirector o
Page 8 and 9: CONTACT DETAILSFurther information
Page 10 and 11: TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION 1A Re
Page 12 and 13: CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATION
Page 14 and 15: Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provision
Page 17 and 18: TABLE OF CASESAlexandrou v Oxford [
Page 19 and 20: Kent v Griffiths [2001] QB 36 EngKi
Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTIONARequest by the Attorne
Page 23: extent to which current law in Irel
Page 26 and 27: who may have had a “reasonable ex
Page 28 and 29: 1.10 The 2006 Report of the Nationa
Page 30 and 31: Work had also been done on planning
Page 32 and 33: 1.21 The Irish Government‟s 2000
Page 34 and 35: ecommendations to the Government on
Page 36 and 37: that the enactment of legislation s
Page 40 and 41: Russia, Switzerland and a number of
Page 42 and 43: inconvenience to the would-be-rescu
Page 44 and 45: 2.18 Lord Atkin then went on to exp
Page 46 and 47: intervene and rescue. 39 This has b
Page 48 and 49: a duty to control the conduct of ot
Page 50 and 51: voluntarily assumed responsibility
Page 52 and 53: competence and ability to treat the
Page 54 and 55: property in a public place and a ve
Page 56 and 57: is an occupational first-aider pres
Page 58 and 59: human being whose life is in peril
Page 60 and 61: without an option to avoid being su
Page 62 and 63: (d)Economic Arguments2.72 In Stovin
Page 64 and 65: (g)Indeterminate Number of ClaimsIn
Page 66 and 67: there is no greater legal basis for
Page 69 and 70: 3CHAPTER 3DUTY OF CARE AND STANDARD
Page 71 and 72: whereby the courts may, as a matter
Page 73 and 74: conduct in the future. 18 In this w
Page 75 and 76: “Any person who intervenes volunt
Page 77 and 78: leaves the victim in a worse positi
Page 79 and 80: Samaritan could be held liable for
Page 81 and 82: 3.36 It must also be borne in mind
Page 83 and 84: permissible in the case of ordinary
Page 85 and 86: scenarios where there is a lack of
Page 87 and 88: Commission observes that a finding
Page 89 and 90:
In this regard, it is noted that th
Page 91 and 92:
escuer, a quality service is provid
Page 93 and 94:
3.74 Where the undertaking is a pro
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volunteer fails to turn up, it is v
Page 97 and 98:
equivalent services. Furthermore, t
Page 99 and 100:
precedent for future claims against
Page 101 and 102:
would seem to imply that the standa
Page 103 and 104:
that it was unlikely that liability
Page 105 and 106:
4CHAPTER 4THE CONTENTS OF THE GOOD
Page 107 and 108:
often important to distinguish care
Page 109 and 110:
made those decisions, transfers to
Page 111 and 112:
condition that the Good Samaritan a
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defined “render” as “[t]o giv
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4.24 The Commission notes that some
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equirement of rendering emergency c
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statutes in the United States, whil
Page 121 and 122:
property is not included. To the ex
Page 123 and 124:
4.41 In the Australian Capital Terr
Page 125 and 126:
surgical aid in case of urgent need
Page 127 and 128:
(2) General scope of legislation4.5
Page 129 and 130:
heart action or circulation of bloo
Page 131 and 132:
emergency contains in section 11 of
Page 133 and 134:
precise definition of “good faith
Page 135 and 136:
4.82 In the Consultation Paper 135
Page 137 and 138:
the organisation‟s work in determ
Page 139 and 140:
5CHAPTER 5SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATION
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APPENDIXDRAFT CIVIL LIABILITY (GOOD
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DRAFT CIVIL LIABILITY (GOOD SAMARIT
Page 145 and 146:
(e) The individual was capable of a
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Effect on common law and statutory
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