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

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

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

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

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 the ...

Winterbottom had been

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

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. History The practice of having a government officia ...

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. ...

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 juris ...

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, a doctrine referred to by legal scholars including P. H. Winfield as the "privity of contract fallacy".

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 anyone who is not a party to that contract. It is related to, but distinct from, the doctrine of considera ...

. 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'' 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 Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

. 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 the

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 Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

, Sir William Brett sought to establish a general principle of

duty of care In Tort, tort law, a duty of care is a legal Law of obligations, obligation that is imposed on an individual, requiring adherence to a standard of care, standard of Reasonable person, reasonable care to avoid careless acts that could foreseeab ...

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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in '' MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co.'' (1916) and finally in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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

Donoghue v Stevenson ''Donoghue v Stevenson''

932 Year 932 (Roman numerals, CMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Alberic II of Spoleto, Alberic II leads an uprising at Rome against his stepfather Hugh of Italy, Hu ...

AC 562 was a Lists of landmark court decisions, 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 jurisdic ...

'' (1932).

Case law

*'' Butterfield v Forrester'' *'' Davies v Mann'' *'' May v Burdett'' *'' Paris v Stepney BC''

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