''Winterbottom v Wright'' (1842
10 M&W 109
was an important case in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

responsible for constraining the law's 19th-century stance on

negligence Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as ...

Facts

The

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

Winterbottom had been

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

ed by the

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsible ...

to drive a

mail coach A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. M ...

supplied by the Postmaster. The

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisd ...

Wright had been contracted by the Postmaster to maintain the coach in a safe state. The coach collapsed while Winterbottom was driving, and he was injured. He claimed that Wright had "negligently conducted himself, and so utterly disregarded his aforesaid contract and so wholly and negligently failed to perform his duty in this behalf."Lunney & Oliphant (2003) pp. 91-92. In ''Winterbottom v. Wright'', the court held that the plaintiff had no redress. The principle of ''Winterbottom'' meant that consumers who were injured by defective products in the 19th century had no legal action against the defective execution of a contract to which they were not expressly privy.

Judgment

In 1842, the law's only recognition of "negligence" was in respect of a

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

. As the plaintiff was not in a

with the defendant, the court ruled in favour of the defendant on the basis of the doctrine of

privity of contract The doctrine of privity of contract is a common law principle which provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations upon any person who is not a party to the contract. The premise is that only parties to contracts should be ...

. Winterbottom sought to extend the ''

ratio In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ...

'' of the court in '' Langridge v Levy'''' Langridge v Levy'
(1837) 2 M&W 519
(1837) 150 ER 863. but the court rejected that on the grounds that that case involved a gun whose safety had been misrepresented by the vendor. The case was also possibly influenced by

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

. If the plaintiff were able to sue," there would be unlimited actions" and the public utility of the Postmaster-General was such that allowing such actions would be undesirable for society.

Significance

Though

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and Head of Civil Justice. As a judge, the Master of ...

William Brett sought to establish a general principle of

duty of care In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation that is imposed on an individual, requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be establi ...

in '' Heaven v. Pender'' (1883), his judgment was at variance with the majority of the court. The privity argument was subsequently rejected in common law in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in ''

MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co. ''MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co.''is a famous New York Court of Appeals opinion by Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo that removed the requirement of privity of contract for duty in negligence actions. Facts The plaintiff, Donald C. MacPherson, a stonecutt ...

'' (1916) and finally in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

by the doctrine of the "neighbour principle" in ''

Donoghue v. Stevenson was a landmark court decision in Scots delict law and English tort law by the House of Lords. It laid the foundation of the modern law of negligence in Common law jurisdictions worldwide, as well as in Scotland, establishing general principle ...

'' (1932). The evolution is explained in the article on

Case law

*''

Butterfield v Forrester ''Butterfield v. Forrester'', 11 East. 60, 103 Eng. Rep. 926 (K.B. 1809), was an English case before the King's Bench that was the first appearance of contributory negligence as a common law defence against negligence Negligence (Lat. ''ne ...

'' *''

Davies v Mann ''Davies v. Mann'', 152 Eng. Rep. 588 (1882), was an English case that contained the first formulation of the " last clear chance" or “last opportunity rule” doctrine in negligence law. The case concerned an accident in which a donkey, belon ...

'' *''

May v Burdett ''May v. Burdett'', 9 Q.B. 101 (1846), was an English case argued decided before the Queen's Bench that ruled a plaintiff injured by a dangerous animal kept by the defendant had a prima facie case for negligence even without a showing that the d ...

'' *'' Paris v Stepney BC''

Notes

References

* * *

External links

*{{ cite web , url=http://www.lawrence.edu/fast/boardmaw/Wntbtm_Wr.html , title=Transcript of report , publisher =Lawrence University , accessdate=2007-11-19 1842 in case law 1842 in British law Negligence case law English tort case law Exchequer of Pleas cases