The Neighbour Principle
from Lord Atkin's famous statement in the House of Lords in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson (1932)
"The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question, 'who in law is my neighbour?', receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoids acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be - persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question."
From Lord Atkin's statement it can be seen that in order for a duty of care to exist there must be reasonable foresight of harm to persons whom, it is reasonable to foresee may be harmed by your acts or omissions.
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