The Gazette 1992

GAZETTF

OCTOBER 1992

Notes *. Lecturer in Law, Trinity College, Dublin. This article is based on a paper presented to the IFA Occupiers' Liability Conference on April 8, 1992. 1. Purtill -v- Athlone UDC [1968] IR 205; McNamara -v- ESB [1975] IR 1; Foley -v- Musgrave, Supreme Court, unreported, 20 December 1985; Rooney -v- Connolly [19861IR 572; Mullen -v- Quinnsworth [1990] 1 IR 59; and Smith -v- CLE. [1991] 1 IR 314. See generally, McMahon and Binchy Irish Law of Torts (2nd. ed., Dublin, 1990), chapter 12. 2. Indermaur -v- Dames (1866) LR 1 CP 274. The structure in the text does not include (the possible fourth category of) contractual invitees, since the contract, governing the liability, would usually reach the same result as the tort-based duty to take reasonable care. 3. Addie -v- Dumbreck [1929] AC 358. 4. Addie -v- Dumbreck [1929] AC 358. As a result "no occupier is under any duty to potential trespassers, whether adults or children, to do anything to protect them from danger on his land however likely it may be that they will come and run into danger and however lethal the danger may be....If he knows that trespassers are already on his land... then he does incur a duty of a very limited kind - a duty not to act with reckless disregard of their safety". British Railways Board - v- Herrington [1972] 1 All ER 749, 754 per Lord Reid, cp to like effect Lord Wilberforce at 776. 5. Perkowski -v- Wellington Corporation [1959] AC 53. 6. Indermaur -v- Dames (1866) LR 1 CP 274. Here, the employee of a gasfitter who had contracted to do certain work on the occupier's factory was

held to be an invitee of the occupier. Thus, so long as there is a community of interest between the occupier and the invitee, as where a person is on the occupier's premises with his consent on business, the visitor is an invitee. 7. Addie -v- Dumbreck [1929] AC 358, 371 per Lord Dunedin. 8. Hardy -v- Central London Ry [1920] 2 K.B. 459, 470; Latham -v- Johnson [1913] 1 KB 398, 416. The allurement doctrine predated Addie and was "perfectly sound policy", British Railways Board -v- Herrington [1972] 1 All ER 749, 771 and 111 per Lord Wilberforce. Its most recent consideration in Ireland is Kenny -v- Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland, High Court, unreported, 29 November 1991, Costello J. 9. Cmnd 9305, para 30; Cooke -v- MGW Ry. of Ireland [1909] AC 229, 238; Latham -v- Johnson [1913] 1 KB 398. 10. [1963] 2 QB 650 11. Cmnd. 9305 (1954) 12. 5 & 6 Eliz. 2., c. 31 13. Salmond and Heuston The Law of Torts (19th. ed., London, 1987) by Heuston and Buckley, p. 317 14. [1972] AC 877, [1971] 1 All ER 74. 15. See expecially per Lords Reid and Diplock. 16. Herrington at p. 758 per Lord Reid: "It would follow that an impecunious ocupier with little assistance at hand would often be excused from doing something which a large organisation with ample staff would be expected to do". 17. Under Donoghue -v- Stevenson [1932] AC 562 and its extensive progeny. 18. Law Com. No 75: Cmnd 6428. 19. Wheat -v- Lacon [1966] AC 552, 574, 578; Holden -v- White [1982] QB 679, 687.

20. Kelly -v- Woolworth [1922] 2 IR 5; 21. Bracey -v- Read [1962] 3 All ER 472, Maunsell -v- Olins [1975] 1 All ER 16, HL. 22. Francis -v- Cockrell (1870) LR 5 QB 501. 23. Heaven -v- Pender (1883) 11 QBD 503. 24. Wheeler -v- Copas [1981] 3 All ER 405, 408. 25. [1941] N.I. 23 cp. McNamara -v- ESB [1975] IR 1. 26. Edwards -v- Railway Executive [1952] AC 737, 746 per Lord Goddard C.J. 27. Addie -v- Dumbreck [1929] AC 358, 372 per Lord Dunedin, cp. O'Keeffe - v- Irish Motor Inns [1978] IR 85, 94 per O'Higgins CJ. 28. The Calgarth [1927] P. 93, 110 per Sutton L.J. 29. McMahon and Binchy Irish Law of Torts (2nd. ed., Dublin, 1990), p. 208. 30. Id. p. 209. •

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