The snail in the bottle

As the Queensland Law Society Ethics Centre has noted, one of the most important decisions of the 20th century was Donoghue v Stevenson (the snail in the ginger beer bottle case). Lord Atkin in that decision set out his ‘neighbour’ principle which has had a lasting legacy in the development of the law of negligence.

His Lordship said:

“The liability for negligence…is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral wrongdoing for which the offender must pay. But acts or omissions which any moral code would censure cannot in a practical world be treated so as to give a right to every person injured by them to demand relief. In this way rules of law arise which limit the range of complainants and the extent of their remedy. The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply.” Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 at 580.