''Heaven v Pender'' (1883) (11 QBD 503,
Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
) was an
English tort law case, which foreshadowed the birth of the modern law of
negligence.
Facts
Pender was the owner of a
dry dock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
used for ship works, and Heaven was a ship painter who was using some staging slung over the side of a ship he was painting, supported by ropes. These ropes had previously been damaged and evidence showed that they were unfit for use. The painter was injured.
Heaven v Pender (1883) 11 QBD 503
Lawyer, Interrupted, accessed 19 January 2021 In a summary advanced in relation to a later House of Lords case, ''Caledonian Railway Co. v. Warwick (1897)'', Lord Herschell stated that the dry dock's supporting apparatus
Judgment
(Brett MR – minority):
Court of Appeal
The Master of the Rolls, William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, suggested that there was a wider duty to be responsible in tort to those who might be injured if ‘ordinary care and skill’ was not exercised.
Brett MR's obiter views would later be expressly adopted by Lord Atkin
James Richard Atkin, Baron Atkin, (28 November 1867 – 25 June 1944), commonly known as Dick Atkin, was an Australian-born British judge, who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary from 1928 until his death in 1944. He is especially remembere ...
in the House of Lords in '' Donoghue v Stevenson'', when the general concept of a tortious duty of care in negligence was established under English law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, be ...
.
House of Lords
The House of Lords was content to decide the case on the basis a duty of care was owed by an occupier of land (the owner of the dry dock) to invitees (the employees of the contractor who were on the site to the economic benefit ultimately of the dry dock owner).
References
1883 in case law
English tort case law
1883 in British law
Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases
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