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Negligence - general principles of the law

Negligence is the failure to exercise that care which the circumstances demand. It may be omitting to do something that should be done, or doing something that ought to be done differently or not at all.

Reasonable care must be taken to avoid acts or omissions that are reasonably foreseeable. The material considerations of negligence are an absence of care and damage, together with a demonstrable relation of cause and effect between the two.

A risk is deemed foreseeable if existing facts are known or a reasonable opportunity exists for them to be learned.

The standard of care is that of a person of ordinary prudence or a person using ordinary care and skill. It is no defence that a person acted to the best of their own judgement if their best is below that of a reasonable preson.

‘Reasonable care' means that a person must have regard both to the probability of harm resulting from their actions and the probable seriousness of the harm.