Scrimgeour v William Thomson and Co: HL 19 Dec 1921

A seaman who had been allowed ashore for his own purposes was returning to his ship by means of a ladder leading from the quay to the ship’s bulwark, when owing to his dazed condition, due to the liquor he had consumed when on shore, he fell from the ladder and was drowned. Held (diss. Viscount Finlay, rev. judgment of the First Division) that the findings of the arbiter as to the cause of the accident amounted to an absolute finding that the sole cause of the accident was the drunken condition of the seaman; that that was a finding of fact which ought not to be disturbed; and that, accordingly, the accident did not arise out of the employment.

Viscount Haldane, Viscount Finlay, Lord Dunedin, Lord Shaw, and Lord Sumner
[1921] UKHL 66, 59 SLR 66
Bailii
Scotland

Employment

Updated: 15 November 2021; Ref: scu.632647