Vickers broke into a premises in order to steal money. The lifeboat capsized in the heavy seas and 9 of the crew drowned. (as representing the Postmaster General) 21st February 1963. Facts: A ship called The Oropesa was negligently navigated and collided with another ship, the Manchester Regiment. Held: It was held that there had been no break in the chain of causation by the action of throwing on the squib elsewhere: the actions were a foreseeable national consequence. One of the officers was struck by an oncoming vehicle. 1963 SC (HL) 31 [1963] AC 837 [1963] UKHL 8 [1963] 1 All ER 705 [1963] 2 WLR 779 1963 SLT 150. Facts: The defendant's employees negligently loaded cargo onto the plaintiff's (claimant's) ship. Hughes v Lord Advocate - Facts Employees of a post office left a man hole uncovered unattended. However, the claimant's employers, on the other hand, were legally responsible for the encephalitis as well as for the minor injury: if a wrongdoer ought to foresee that as a result of his wrongful act the victim may require medical treatment then he is liable for the consequences of the treatment applied although he could not reasonably foresee those consequences. Share. [G] Negligence – Remoteness of the damage Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] AC 837 The government construction workers did not cover a hole on a road after their work. It was treated by splinting but the pain continued. Ventricelli v. Kinney System Rent A Car, Inc46 N.Y.2d 770, 413 N.Y.S.2d 655, 386 N.E.2d 263 (1978) N.Y. Marshall v. Nugent; Hughes v. Lord Advocate; Moore v. Hartley Motors36 P.3d 628 (Alaska 2001). 4. The claimant suffered severe burns. * Hughes went into the manhole using a ladder and dropped the lamp which exploded. The eggshell skull rule applies and the defendant must take his victim as he finds him. Whilst an explosion was unlikely and unforeseeable, the presence of unattended paraffin lamps nevertheless made it reasonably foreseeable that someone would suffer from burns. Held: The defendant was held to be liable: the burn was a foreseeable consequence of the defendant's negligence and this resulted in his death. (Lord Jenkins in Hughes v Lord Advocate) Analyse this statement in terms of case law. The trial court ruled in favor of the Lord Advocate, holding that while burn injuries were foreseeable, the manner in which Hughes’ burns occurred was not a foreseeable cause of harm. Hughes v. Lord Advocate At delivering judgment on 21st February 1963,— LORD REID .—I have had an opportunity of reading the speech which my noble and learned friend, Lord Guest, is about to deliver. The defendant claimed that the damage was too remote to be foreseeable. Facts: A widow brought a claim against the defendant (who employed her husband) under the Fatal Accidents Act for the death of her husband. As a result of the defendant's negligence the husband had incurred a burn to his lip. The second use is narrower than the first Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] AC 837 Facts: o A group of workmen left an open manhole, guarded by paraffin lamps. But the decision of the Court of Appeal is no longer law; and Mr James relied principally on Hughes v. Lord Advocate, a case in which the House of Lords treated The Wagon Mound as correctly stating the law, but distinguished it on the facts. HUGHES (A.P.)v. v. LORD ADVOCATE (as representing the Postmaster General) 21st February 1963 Lord Reid Lord Jenkins Lord Morris of Borth­y­Gest Lord Guest LordPearce Lord Reid. Hughes brought a negligence claim against the Lord Advocate (defendant), who represented the Post Office employees. The boy was thrown into the hole, and he suffered from severe burns. An explosion occurred and the child was severely injured. The Wagon Mound (a ship) docked in Sydney Harbour in October 1951. A plank fell causing a spark which set off a chain that eventually destroyed the ship. This is specifically made for exam purpose of tort law. CITATION CODES. Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] AC 837 House of Lords Two boys aged 8 and 10 went exploring an unattended man hole. One evening in November 1958 two boys aged 8 and 10 were walking down Russell Road, Edinburgh where some Post Office workers were repairing cables under the street. Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] - Facts. After getting back out, a lamp was either dropped or knocked into the hole and an explosion resulted, causing Hughes to fall back in where he was badly burned. Donoghue v Stevenson. Robinson v Post Office and another, Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock & Engineering Co Ltd (Wagon Mound) [1961], Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services [2003], Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee [1969], R (Freedom and Justice Party) v SS Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs: How Should International Law Inform the Common Law. From mid-afternoon onwards, the tent had four red paraffin warning lamps. v. LORD ADVOCATE (as representing the Postmaster General) 21st February 1963 Lord Reid Lord Jenkins Lord Morris of Borth­y­Gest Lord Guest LordPearce Lord Reid. Two police officers on motorcycles arrived at the scene. Held: The court held that the owners of The Oropesa were liable: the actions of the captain of the other ship did not break the chain of causation because they were reasonable in all the circumstances. Hughes v. Lord Advocate. The House of Lords rejected the defendant’s appeal, holding that the damage was not too remote. Important Scottish delict case decided by the House of Lords on causation. ✅ Research Methods, Success Secrets, Tips, Tricks, and more! Facts: Shepherd (the defendant) chucked a lighted squib into a crowd of people. Remoteness of damage in tort law; that the kind of damage must be foreseeable, rather than the specific damage that actually occurred. Landmark court decision in Scots delict law and English tort law by the House of Lords. When they came up they dropped the lamp which exploded and caused damage. A man and a boy went and explored the man hole. However, the kind of injury- burning- was … o One of the boys accidentally knocked the lamp over into the manhole, which exploded. © 2020 Digestible Notes All Rights Reserved. Hughes v Lord Advocate United Kingdom House of Lords (21 Feb, 1963) 21 Feb, 1963; Subsequent References; Similar Judgments; Hughes v Lord Advocate. Court cases similar to or like Donoghue v Stevenson. The result of the operation left him with more pain and meant he could only do light work. Re Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co [1921]. Therefore, the defendant would remain liable even if the extent of damages was more than reasonably foreseeable. It was “axiomatic” that later negligence by a doctor (so in principle, presumably anyone’s later negligence) would amount to a “new cause” and so break the chain of causation flowing from the original accident. REASONS: The exact circumstances that created the burns were not foreseeable. Facts: The defendants carelessly exposed their employee, a van driver (the claimant), to extreme cold in the course of his duties. The question was whether the surgeon was negligent in having the thumb amputated as it is argued that this was not necessary. Therefore, the type of harm suffered was reasonably foreseeable. It is also influential in the English law of tort . Facts: The issue in this case was whether or not the fire was forseeable. He was then sent to hospital where it was discovered that the fracture had not united. Hughes v Lord Advocate. The claimant suffered frost bite as a result. The boy falls into a hole and is badly burned. The defendant was liable because the damage was not too remote as it was foreseeable that the boys might suffer a burn from the lamp → the fact that the burn resulted from an unforeseeable explosion did not prevent the type of damage being foreseeable. Important Scottish delict case decided by the House of Lords on causation. You are required to explain the concept of remoteness (or causation in law) and the way in which a line must be drawn on causal responsibility in tort for reasons of practicality or justice. The claimant arranged for repairs to be done herself and submitted a bill to the council for the repairs and damage caused by the squatters, Held: It was held the council was not liable for the acts of the squatters: it was not foreseeable that squatters would move into an empty house in Camden and cause damage despite the prevalence of such behaviour in Camden at the time, Facts: The claimant sustained an injury at work due to his employer’s breach of duty. Hughes v Lord Advocate is similar to these court cases: Donoghue v Stevenson, Titchener v British Rlys Board, Re Polemis & Furness, Withy & Co Ltd and more. It was determined that the breaking was negligent, as it should not have been allowed to come into such disrepair. Workmen were completing some underground maintenance of some telephone equipment, meaning they had to open a manhole cover. Willis, a bystander, picked up the squib and chucked it elsewhere to protect himself from injury. MY LORDS, I have had an opportunity of reading the speech which my noble andlearned friend, Lord Guest, is about to deliver. Squatters had also moved in and caused further damage. Digestible Notes was created with a simple objective: to make learning simple and accessible. an act breaking the chain of causation). This was especially so given the lamp, tent and open manhole cover would be very ‘alluring’ to children. In Hughes v Lord Advocate, the HL held that only the type of harm needs to be reasonably foreseeable. HOUSE OF LORDS. Facts. Lord Reid (dissenting) said that a “grave lack of skill or care on the part of the doctor” treating an injury could amount to a novus actus interveniens. The squib landed at someone else’s foot, who then chucked it elsewhere too, before it exploded in Scott’s (the claimant) face, putting out one of his eyes. No Acts. Held: It was held that the claimant's actions amounted to a novus actus inteveniens (i.e. Lord Advocate. Hughes v Lord Advocate: facts. Hughes v Lord Advocate < p i d = " p _ 0 " > 2 1 February 1963 At delivering judgment on 21st February 1963,— It was argued that the appellant cannot recover because the damage which he suffered was of a kind which was not foreseeable. They had erected a canvas shelter over the manhole and had placed paraffin warning lamps around the shelter. the Manchester Regiment later sank. I agree with him that this appeal should be allowed and I shall only add some general observations. Provided that some kind of personal injury was foreseeable it did not matter whether the injury was physical or psychiatric. Some children began playing w/ the lamps and dropped one of them into the manhole where there was an explosion. It was surrounded by a tent and some paraffin lamps were left to warn road users of the danger. The fire spread rapidly causing destruction of some boats and the wharf, Held: The court held that Re Polemis and Furness, Withy & Co [1921] should no longer be considered good law and said the defendant can only be liable for damage that was reasonably foreseeable. Hughes v. Lord Advocate. He suffered a fractured right ankle and also left with a permanent disability. This caused extensive damage and the property had to be vacated. The boys mucked around and the claimant accidently knocked the lamp into the hole, causing an explosion. Smith v Leech Brain & Co Ltd, Next case —–> ⇒ If the injury was of a different kind than the foreseeable type, then the defendant could have escaped liability. o Manhole covered only by a canvas tent, surrounded by kerosene warning lamps. It was installed negligently which meant the pig feed went mouldy. The court disagreed, saying that a splashing was a physical displacement, whereas an eruption was a chemical reaction which was NOT … The complainant was employed as a galvaniser of steel for the defendants, Leech Brain & Co Ltd. It was held, therefore, that since frostbite was of same type and kind as these harms the defendant could be liable, Facts: A person had one normal thumb and a second superfluous thumb on the same hand. Contents Share. In supporting this conclusion, Lord Pearce said: But to demand too great precision in the test of foreseeability would be unfair to the pursuer since the facets of misadventure are innumerable. The House of Lords held that the defendant could only escape liability if the damage was not a kind which was reasonably foreseeable. Held: The hospital was negligent but not liable, since even the proper procedure would not have revealed the allergy. This was a harsh judgment and does not stand anymore! Share. The family sued the post office. As they climbed out the boys knocked one of the paraffin lamps into the Thus the judge was entitled to find that on the balance of probabilities an apparently unlikely set of facts had happened, as in Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] AC 837 and was not obliged to hold that the claimant had failed to discharge the burden of proof as in Rhesa Shipping v Edmunds [1985] 1 WLR 948. It was not necessary to show that death by cancer was foreseeable, nor that an ordinary person would not have died from the injury. Held: The defendant was held to be liable for negligence of the workmen. Two young children came upon the site Topic. Held: Whether a chain of causation had been broken was a question of fact. Secondly, Lord Woolf M.R. When they came up they dropped the lamp which exploded and caused damage. HUGHES (A.P.) 6 / 1 5 2 0 H u g h e s v L o r d A c a t [9 3] U K (F b y) h t p: / w. b a i l o r g u k c s e U K H L 1 9 6 3 m 2 MY LORDS, An hour later he set off with another 16 of crewmembers, to go to the Oropesa, in another lifeboat. The remoteness of damage rule limits a defendant's liability to what can be reasonably justified, ensures a claimant does not profit from an event and aids insurers to assess future liabilities. HUGHES (A.P.) Hughes v Lord Advocate - Facts o Workers left a manhole open and unattended. Hughes v. Lord Advocate - Proximate Cause Instant Facts: While playing in and around an unguarded open manhole, two young boys accidentally knocked a kerosene lantern into the manhole, breaking the lantern and causing an unforeseeable explosion. The case is also influential in negligence in the English law of tort (even though English law does not recognise allurement per se). The boys took a … Facts: The claimant (8 year old) and another boy were playing on a road. o Two young boys came across open manhole, and took one of the lamps into the tent. Smith v Also, the fact that an ordinary person would not have suffered the injury incurred by the claimant was irrelevant as the defendant must take his victim as he finds him under the eggshell skull rule, Facts: The claimant purchased a food storage hopper. In Hughes v Lord Advocate, the HL held that only the type of harm needs to be reasonably foreseeable. He fractured the superfluous thumb whilst working. REASONS: The exact circumstances that created the burns were not foreseeable. As a result, Stephenson developed a serious virus and became chronically infirm. Hughes v Lord Advocate [1963] UKHL 8 is a famous Scottish delict case decided by the House of Lords on causation. I agree with him that this appeal should be allowed and I shall only add some general observations. 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