The Anns Test
The Anns Test
Following the firm establishment of the neighbour principle in negligence, it became clear in subsequent years that it did not represent an easily applicable approach to new forms of duty, or to unprecedented situations of negligence. As such, new categories of negligence evolved, as in Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd, to cover different types of negligent acts, rather than a coherent doctrine or ratio being taken from Donoghue v Stevenson. Some thirty years after Donoghue was decided, in Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co Ltd, Lord Reid stated judicially that: “the time has come when we can and should say that it ought to apply unless there is some justification or valid explanation for its exclusion.” It was not until the case of Anns v Merton London Borough Council however, that the neighbour principle was adopted in a formal test for negligence. The case involved the negligent construction of a block of maisonettes, commissioned by the Merton London Borough Council. The flats, finished in 1972, had poorly constructed foundations, resulting in sloping of floors, and cracks in the walls. The lessees of the maisonettes sued the council in negligence, alleging a Duty of Care existed for the building to be properly constructed and in a usable state.
In rejecting the previous evolution of Duty of Care, a categorical approach where a claim would have to fit under previous situations a duty had been found, the House of Lords unanimously found a duty to exist. The test established by Lord Wilberforce – known as the Anns test – imposed a prima facie Duty of Care where:
- A sufficient relationship of proximity or neighbourhood exists between the alleged wrongdoer and the person who has suffered damage, such that carelessness on the part of the former is likely to cause damage to the latter;
- There are no considerations relevant which may reduce or limit the scope of any imposed duty.
