(Canada) Petrol was sold to a child aged nine who was unaware of its dangerous properties, and suffered injury.
Held: A duty of care may be due toward someone unable to appreciate the risks to which he will be exposed by is own act. An objective view of the child’s age alone (rather than his intelligence and experience as well) was favourd though the Committee cautioned that ‘a more debatable question would have arisen’ if it had been established that the nine-year-old plaintiff had had greater knowledge of the dangerous properties of gasoline than would normally be imputed to a child of his age does not. The general principles of contributory negligence, whether in relation to adults or children, will take account of the plaintiff’s superior knowledge.
Citations:
[1949] AC 386
Cited by:
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Negligence
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.235777