Duty of care
A legal obligation to take reasonable care to avoid causing foreseeable harm to others who are closely and directly affected by one's acts or omissions.
Definition
A duty of care is the first element of a negligence claim in English law. It was famously established in <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1932/100.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Donoghue v Stevenson</em> [1932] AC 562</a>, where Lord Atkin articulated the "neighbour principle": you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions that you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your "neighbour" — anyone so closely and directly affected by your act that you ought reasonably to have them in contemplation. The modern test for whether a duty of care exists in a novel situation was restated in <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1990/8.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Caparo Industries plc v Dickman</em> [1990] 2 AC 605</a>: (1) the harm was foreseeable; (2) there was sufficient proximity between the parties; and (3) it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty. <strong>Established duty situations</strong> include: a driver to other road users; an employer to employees (a non-delegable duty to provide a safe system of work); a doctor to a patient; an occupier to a lawful visitor (Occupiers' Liability Act 1957); a manufacturer to the ultimate consumer of a product; and a professional (solicitor, accountant, surveyor) to their client. <strong>Difficult cases</strong> include: duties to prevent the acts of third parties; duties of public authorities (police, local authorities); and purely economic loss where there is no "assumption of responsibility." A duty of care is distinct from a contractual obligation — both can coexist and you can sue in both contract and tort if the same defendant breaches both.
In practice
Duty of care is most practically relevant in: personal injury claims (road traffic accidents, accidents at work, slipping on a wet floor in a shop); claims against professionals for negligent advice (a solicitor who misses a limitation deadline; a surveyor who misses structural defects); clinical negligence claims against healthcare providers; and product liability claims. If you think someone owed you a duty of care and breached it, causing you harm or financial loss, you need to show all three elements: duty, breach, and causation. See the <a href="/glossary/tort" class="body-link">tort entry</a>, the <a href="/glossary/damages" class="body-link">damages entry</a>, and the <a href="/glossary/limitation-period" class="body-link">limitation period entry</a> for the full negligence framework.