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Issue – Lord Aitken The question is whether the manufacturer of an article of drink sold by him to a distributor, in circumstances which prevent the distributor or the ultimate purchaser or consumer from discovering by inspection any defect, is under any legal duty to the ultimate purchaser or consumer to take reasonable care that the article is free from defect likely to cause injury to health. Key Concepts • Corrective Justice – the idea that liability must be bound by fault. This needs to be balanced with pragmatic need to develop laws which limit the range of complainants and the extent of their remedy. • Neighbour Principle – this involves taking reasonable steps to avoid acts or omissions which one could reasonably believe would lead to injury (duty of care arises). This has an objective standard. • We now also associate the concept of proximity with this. Lord Atkin acknowledges that this is not just physical proximity. • Modern Test – Whether the intermediate examination afforded the Plaintiff adequate protection against the damage? Important Reasoning • As the bottle was opaque, the purchaser could not see the contents. Hence, the defence of intermediate examination does not apply in this case. In contrast, in cases concerning leaky homes, the defence may apply as the purchaser can examine the home beforehand.
PROVING NEGLIGENCE • Duty of Care - This is important because it limits the ambit of the tort to perceived reasonable bounds to prevent limitless liability - Richmond P: A builder is not liable to a purchaser with actual knowledge of the defect or if they are in a circumstance where they could have used the opportunity of inspection in a way that would have alerted them to the defect - Woodhouse J reflects a similar idea: Not liable to a purchaser who has knowledge or could reasonably obtain knowledge through inspection • Breach - Whether the plaintiff has departed from the standard of a reasonable person - Focus on the quality of the defendant’s conduct and whether it is blameworthy - Objective standard but reasonable person in their circumstances • Cause - Whether the plaintiff’s conduct has caused the defendant loss - Focus on the causal link between the breach and loss. It may be helpful to use the ‘but for’ test - Cooke J: Buyers are not expected to check building plans – they rely entirely on the builder • Remoteness - Focus on the type of harm and whether it is a sufficiently proximate consequence
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