The case involved a woman named May Donoghue, who claimed she was ill after drinking ginger beer from a bottle manufactured by David Stevenson. The ginger beer had a decomposed snail inside, which caused Donoghue to become sick.
Donoghue filed a lawsuit against Stevenson, alleging that he had failed in his duty to take reasonable care to ensure the safety of his product. The case went through various courts in Scotland, ultimately reaching the House of Lords, the highest court in the land.
In a landmark judgment, Lord Atkin, delivering the majority opinion, held that Stevenson owed Donoghue a duty of care and could be held liable for her injury. Lord Atkin introduced the "neighbour principle," stating that a person must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions that could reasonably be expected to cause damage to their neighbours.
The concept of a "neighbour" was defined broadly to include anyone who could potentially be affected by a person's actions.
This established the foundation for modern negligence law, recognizing that individuals have a duty to act reasonably to prevent foreseeable harm to others.
The Donoghue v Stevenson case revolutionized tort law and significantly expanded the scope of negligence liability. It set the precedent for individuals to seek compensation for damages resulting from another party's failure to exercise reasonable care.
The "neighbour principle" has since become a cornerstone of negligence law in common law jurisdictions worldwide and continues to shape legal decisions involving duty of care and liability for harm caused by one party to another.