''Paris v Stepney Borough Council''

950 Year 950 ( CML) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: A Hamdanid army (30,000 men) led by Sayf al-Dawla raids into Byzantine theme Anatolia. He defea ...

UKHL 3Full text of the decision
/ref> was a decision of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

that significantly affected the concept of

Standard of care In tort law, the standard of care is the only degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care. The requirements of the standard are closely dependent on circumstances. Whether the standard of care has been b ...

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 ...

. The plaintiff Paris was employed by the then Stepney Borough Council as a general garage-hand. He had sight in only one eye, and his employer was aware of this. The council only issued eye protection goggles to its employees who were welders or tool-grinders. In the course of his usual work, Paris received an injury to his sighted eye. He sued the council for damages in the

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

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 ...

. On appeal it was decided that Stepney Borough Council was aware of his special circumstances and failed in their

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 ...

to give him protective goggles.

Facts

Paris was employed by Stepney Borough Council as garage-hand. He had suffered a war injury that left him with sight in only one eye. While Paris was attempting to loosen a rusted car axle bolt with a hammer, he caused a chip of metal to fly into his sighted eye, and as a result was permanently blinded in both eyes.

Case law

*'' Butterfield v Forrester'' *'' Davies v Mann'' *'' May v Burdett'' *''

Winterbottom v Wright ''Winterbottom v Wright'' (184210 M&W 109was an important case in English common law responsible for constraining the law's 19th-century stance on negligence. Facts The plaintiff Winterbottom had been contracted by the Postmaster-General to dr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris v Stepney Borough Council 1950 in case law 1950 in British law Negligence case law House of Lords cases English tort case law English enforceability case law United Kingdom tort case law 1950 in London Stepney