4
Negligence: duty of care
Learning objectives
At the end of this chapter you should be able to: • have an overview of the history of negligence; • describe the function of duty of care in negligence; • appreciate the way duty of care has been defined and developed; and • apply the principles of duty of care in the areas of omissions and liability of public bodies.

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Introduction
Negligence began to be recognised as a tort in its own right around the beginning of the nineteenth century. Before that time, the dominating action for personal injury was the writ of trespass. Trespass was initially concerned only with direct acts, however, during the nineteenth century the focus shifted to the distinction between intentional wrongs (trespass) and the unintentional (negligence). As we have seen, negligence was originally described in terms of a duty imposed by law and thus it will be seen that duty is one of the three key elements of negligence today. Negligence evolved as a means of loss-shifting at a time when there was little or no insurance or state welfare provision. The industrial revolution in the nineteenth century brought with it increased risks of injury to those working in factories, mines, quarries, and other dangerous situations. The development of railway transportation and mass production dramatically increased the potential for many people to be affected by the faulty conduct of strangers, at the same time that the development of incorporations meant that there would be a company to sue rather than an individual. The damage in such cases would have been personal injury or death and, to a lesser extent, property damage. The Workmen’s Compensation Act 1897 was the first step in the gradual introduction of compulsory compensation schemes for victims of accidents. It gave certain workers entitlement