Going back to this week's recording, revise what you learnt about the doctrine of precedent. In the famous House of Lords case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, the Court determined that the duty of care can exists outside of a contract. In that case a friend had purchased a bottle of ginger beer for Mrs Donaghue and she found parts of a decomposed snail at the bottle of her botte and became ill. She sued for damages for negligence. A major issue for Mrs Donoghue (the plaintiff) is that she had no contract with the company or with anyone for that matter. Her friend had purchased the ginger beer. The court still found in her favour and held that there was a principle of law that each person has a duty of care to all others whom they could reasonable foresee as being affected by their actions.

Let's look at a scenario:

Andre purchases an unsliced sourdough loaf to make sandwiches for a picnic. He returns home to make toast. His son comes out and slices the loaf for breakfast and discovers a spider within the loaf. On inspection they determine one of its eight legs is missing and Andre thinks he ate it. He wants to know his rights against the bakery.

Does Donoghue v Stevenson apply in Tasmania?

What is the reason it would?

Does the bakery have a duty of care to Andre?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

In Tasmania the doctrine of precedent also known as stare decisis is followed which means that court... View the full answer