TORTS LAW ON NEGLIGENCE
NEGLIGENCE: LIABILITY OF MANUFACTURER TO THE ULTIMATE CONSUMER (ARTICLE OF FOOD
DEFECT LIKELY TO CAUSE INJURY TO HEALTH).
Citation: Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) AC 532
This case, also referred to as the “Snail in the bottle,” is a landmark UK case that established the
modern law of negligence and the duty of care principle. This essay describes how a shocking story
and one woman’s illness reshaped Civil law for decades since 1928-1932, when the incident
occurred and the judgment was made by the House of Lords. Under this case study we will discuss
the; facts, legal issues, the laws applied/referenced in brief during the judgement, analysis and come
up with a summary conclusion of how a snail sparked a global legal precedent.
Facts; In the Appeal against an interlocutor of the second Division of the Court of session in Scotland
recalling an Interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary, by an action brought in the court of session the
appellant-Mrs. May Donoghue, who was a shop assistant, sought to recover damages from the
defendant- stevenson, who was the manufacturer of aerated waters for injuries she suffered as a
result of consuming part of the contents of a ginger-beer on 26 th August 1928 which had been
manufactured by the respondent and which contained the decomposed remains of a snail. The
appellant by her condescendence averred that the bottle of ginger-beer was purchased for her by a
friend in a café at Paisley, which was occupied by one Minchella. The bottle was made of dark
opaque glass and that the appellant had no reason to suspect that it contained anything but pure
ginger-beer; that the said Minchella poured some of the ginger-beer out into a tumbler, and that she
drank some of the contents of the tumbler. It was then when Mrs. Donoghues friend was pouring
the rest of the ginger-beer from the bottle that the decomposing parts of the snail floated out of the
bottle. The nauseating sight of the snail in such circumstances and in consequence of the impurities
in the ginger-beer which she had consumed that the appellant suffered from shock and severe
Gastro-enteritis.
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NEGLIGENCE: LIABILITY OF MANUFACTURER TO THE ULTIMATE CONSUMER (ARTICLE OF FOOD
DEFECT LIKELY TO CAUSE INJURY TO HEALTH).
Citation: Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) AC 532
This case, also referred to as the “Snail in the bottle,” is a landmark UK case that established the
modern law of negligence and the duty of care principle. This essay describes how a shocking story
and one woman’s illness reshaped Civil law for decades since 1928-1932, when the incident
occurred and the judgment was made by the House of Lords. Under this case study we will discuss
the; facts, legal issues, the laws applied/referenced in brief during the judgement, analysis and come
up with a summary conclusion of how a snail sparked a global legal precedent.
Facts; In the Appeal against an interlocutor of the second Division of the Court of session in Scotland
recalling an Interlocutor of the Lord Ordinary, by an action brought in the court of session the
appellant-Mrs. May Donoghue, who was a shop assistant, sought to recover damages from the
defendant- stevenson, who was the manufacturer of aerated waters for injuries she suffered as a
result of consuming part of the contents of a ginger-beer on 26 th August 1928 which had been
manufactured by the respondent and which contained the decomposed remains of a snail. The
appellant by her condescendence averred that the bottle of ginger-beer was purchased for her by a
friend in a café at Paisley, which was occupied by one Minchella. The bottle was made of dark
opaque glass and that the appellant had no reason to suspect that it contained anything but pure
ginger-beer; that the said Minchella poured some of the ginger-beer out into a tumbler, and that she
drank some of the contents of the tumbler. It was then when Mrs. Donoghues friend was pouring
the rest of the ginger-beer from the bottle that the decomposing parts of the snail floated out of the
bottle. The nauseating sight of the snail in such circumstances and in consequence of the impurities
in the ginger-beer which she had consumed that the appellant suffered from shock and severe
Gastro-enteritis.
1|Page
