86th anniversary of snail in the bottle case

In 2011 the Scottish Council of Law Reporting released a short film on the case, created by The Muckle Hen.

The famous case concerned a woman, May Donoghue, who found what were alleged to be the remains of a snail in a bottle of ginger beer she consumed in a cafe in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

She subsequently fell ill and successfully sued the manufacturer, incepting the modern law of negligence.

Lord Atkin, who gave the leading judgment, held that the manufacturer owed a duty of care to Mrs Donoghue, which was breached because it was reasonably foreseeable that the manufacturer’s failure to ensure the product’s safety would lead to harm being done to consumers.

He based his judgment on the Golden Rule, as found in the Gospel of Luke: “The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law ‘You must not injure your neighbour’; and the lawyer’s question: ‘Who is my neighbour?’ receives a restricted reply.

“You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.”

Watch the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLleV7XhkRI