''Byrne v Boadle'' (2 Hurl. & Colt. 722, 159 Eng. Rep. 299, 1863) is an
English tort law
English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil law, rather than English criminal law, crimi ...
case that first applied the doctrine of ''
res ipsa loquitur
''Res ipsa loquitur'' (Latin: "the thing speaks for itself") is a doctrine in common law and Roman-Dutch law jurisdictions under which a court can infer negligence from the very nature of an accident or injury in the absence of direct evidence on ...
'' (“the thing speaks for itself”).
Facts
A barrel of flour fell from a second-story
loft
A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...
and hit the plaintiff on his shoulder. Though there were two witnesses who saw the injury, there were no witnesses as to how the barrel fell out and hit the plaintiff. Under these conditions, the plaintiff was not required to provide
direct evidence as to whether the person responsible for the barrel had
breached
Breached was a Canadians, Canadian rock band from Toronto, Ontario, active from 2010 to 2015. Its members were Bobby Noakes (vocals), Age of Days, Mike Diesel (guitar/vocals), Ryan Alexander (bass), and Dear Jane, I..., Neil Uppal (drums). Mike ...
his
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 ...
.
Judgment
Initially, in the lower court the case was dismissed through a directed verdict because the plaintiff could provide no evidence.
Subsequently the appellate court concluded that under the conditions, the fact of the accident itself provided sufficient
circumstantial evidence to establish the breach of a duty of care.
Baron Pollock said the following.
Notes
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External links
Text of case"> Text of case
English tort case law
1863 in case law
1863 in British law
Exchequer of Pleas cases