Introduction to Anglo-American Law Session 2 - History of the Common Law PDF

Introduction to Anglo- American Law Session 2: History of the Common Law 22 October 2024 hhu.de  History of the Common Law Elements of the Common Law  Uncodified  Precedent  Adver...

Introduction to Anglo- American Law Session 2: History of the Common Law 22 October 2024 hhu.de  History of the Common Law Elements of the Common Law  Uncodified  Precedent  Adversarial system  Juries 2 hhu.de  History of the Common Law  Norman origins  Writs  royal orders  Equity  court of Chancery  just outcome!  1215: Magna Carta 3 hhu.de  History of the Common Law Magna Carta 4 hhu.de  History of the Common Law  Norman origins  Writs  royal orders  Equity  court of Chancery  just outcome!  1215: Magna Carta  “Common Law”: c. 1250  1679: Habeas Corpus Act (31 Cha. 2. c. 2)  Unwritten constitution (England and Wales)  Separation of powers  Supremacy of Parliament  Rule of law 5 hhu.de  History of the Common Law Sources of Law in England and Wales  Case law  Statute law  Statutory interpretation  Delegated legislation  European law  Custom  Equity  Treaties  Law reform 6 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent  stare decisis  ratio decidendi  obiter dicta 7 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562  “Paisley Snail” or “Snail in the Bottle” case  landmark court decision in English tort law  establishing general principles of duty of care 8 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562  Facts: “On August 26 1928, Mrs Donoghue’s friend bought her a ginger-beer from Wellmeadow Café in Paisley. She consumed about half of the bottle, which was made of dark opaque glass, when the remainder of the contents was poured into a tumbler. At this point, the decomposed remains of a snail floated out causing her alleged shock and severe gastro-enteritis. Mrs Donoghue was not able to claim through breach of warranty of a contract: she was not party to any contract. Therefore, she issued proceedings against Stevenson, the manufacture, which snaked its way up to the House of Lords.” 9 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562 10 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562  Held: Lord Atkin “My Lords, if your Lordships accept the view that this pleading discloses a relevant cause of action you will be affirming the proposition that by Scots and English law alike a manufacturer of products, which he sells in such a form as to show that he intends them to reach the ultimate consumer in the form in which they left him with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with the knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in the preparation or putting up of the products will result in an injury to the consumer’s life or property, owes a duty to the consumer to take that reasonable care. It is a proposition which I venture to say no one in Scotland or England who was not a lawyer would for one moment doubt. It will be an advantage to make it clear that the law in this matter, as in most others, is in accordance with sound common sense. I think that this appeal should be allowed.” 11 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562  Ratio: the maker of a product is under a legal duty to the consumer to take reasonable care that the product is free from defect likely to cause injury to health  Obiter: Neighbour Principle (a duty of care is owed to persons closely and directly affected by an act, where it is reasonably foreseeable that act may cause those persons injury) 12 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent Donoghue v Stevenson AC 562  Hedley Byrne v Heller  Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co  Caparo Industries plc v Dickman 13 hhu.de  Case Law Judicial Precedent  stare decisis  ratio decidendi  obiter dicta 14 hhu.de