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19 Jan

TORT 1.12A NEGLIGENCE (INTRODUCTION)

THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE

Negligence is a dynamic tort stemming from the period of industrial revolution. The growth of commercial activities in Nigeria necessitated its growth. The decision in Donoghue V . Stevenson was the first major attempt at streamlining the tort of negligence. Over the years the courts have been faced with the task of streamlining and panel-beating the principles formulated in Donoghue V  Stephenson leaving each case to be a question of both law and fact.

In a layman’s language, negligence ordinarily means carelessness or irresponsibility. Negligence may be seen to mean the doing or failing to do what a reasonable man in one’s position would not do or omit respectively.

In law, the tort of negligence is more sophisticated, it consists of three elements namely;

  • A duty of care imposed by law on the defendant
  • A breach of the duty by the defendant
  • Damage resulting from the breach

See UTB V . Ozoemena, Ngilari V . Mothercat.

In the subsequent lessons, we shall be explaining each of these pillars one by one.

Isochukwu

Quite eccentric really

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