Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Negligence definition

What does Negligence mean? In legal practice, negligence describes a failure to take reasonable care that results in foreseeable harm or loss. It is proved by establishing: (i) a duty of care, (ii) breach of that duty measured against the objective standard of a reasonable person, (iii) causation (factual “but for” cause and legal scope/remoteness), and (iv) recoverable damage. The concept is defined and developed by case law. A classic formulation is that negligence is omitting what a reasonable person would do, or doing what a prudent person would not (Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks (1856) 11 Ex Ch 781). The test is objective: the

Negligence duty of care: Caparo test, scope of duty, omissions/assumption, interference principle, non-delegable duties, exclusions, and applications to public authorities, emergency services, economic loss, psychiatric injury, corporate contexts

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Practice notes

This Practice Note addresses the initial issue to consider when confronted with a prospective negligence claim—whether a duty of care exists between the claimant and the defendant so that, if that duty is breached, liability may arise. For analysis of what may then constitute a breach, see Practice Note: Negligence—when is the duty of care breached? For specific guidance on banks and the duty of care, see Practice Note: Negligence—banks and the duty of care. For specific guidance on breach of statutory duty, see Practice Note: Negligence—breach of statutory duty. For specific guidance in professional negligence claims, see: Professional negligence claims—overview, including Practice Note: Bringing a professional negligence claim based on the duty in contract, tort and equity.

Duty of care—what are the requirements to establish a duty of care?

The tort of negligence fixes liability for loss or injury arising from a want of care. Two core questions emerge:

what amounts to carelessness?
when is liability not imposed even though the defendant was careless?

The courts deploy the concept of a ‘duty of care’ to address both questions...

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Professor Richard A Buckley , M.A, D.Phil, DCL, Oxford

University of Reading

Professor Buckley is an Emeritus Professor of Law 2008 -. Formerly Professor of Law, University of Reading 1993-2008; Fellow and Tutor in Law, Mansfield College, Oxford 1975-1993; Lecturer in Laws, King's College, London 1970-1975. Leverhulme Research Fellow, 2001. Publications include The Law of Negligence and Nuisance, 5th ed (2011, LexisNexis); Illegality and Public Policy, 2nd ed (2009, Sweet & Maxwell); The Law of Nuisance, 2nd ed (1995, Butterworths). Professor Buckley is also a contributing editor to Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, Halsbuy's Laws of England, Atkin's Court Forms, Fleming's The Law of Torts, 10th ed (2011), and formerly to Salmond and Heuston on Torts. ...

Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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