Contractual negligence: Difference between revisions

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Now [[negligence]] is all good fun - reasonable men (and [[Fardell v Potts - Case Note|women]]), [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_man_on_the_Clapham_omnibus Clapham omnibuses], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson snails, ginger-beer], escaping domestic animals - but it evolved ''[[ad hoc]]'' to address a particular human dilemma - the plight of an unseen neighbour. That dilemma simply ''does not exist'' where you have a contract. Here, you know damn well who your neighbour is, having spent six months hammering out a legal agreement with the blighter. So it seems all rather forlorn that one should fall back, weakly, on a standard devised by imaginative judges to look after the interests of contract-less folk who found themselves [[Fardell v Potts|struck by a punt being carelessly navigated the wrong way up a flooded avenue]].
Now [[negligence]] is all good fun - reasonable men (and [[Fardell v Potts - Case Note|women]]), [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_man_on_the_Clapham_omnibus Clapham omnibuses], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson snails, ginger-beer], escaping domestic animals - but it evolved ''[[ad hoc]]'' to address a particular human dilemma - the plight of an unseen neighbour. That dilemma simply ''does not exist'' where you have a contract. Here, you know damn well who your neighbour is, having spent six months hammering out a legal agreement with the blighter. So it seems all rather forlorn that one should fall back, weakly, on a standard devised by imaginative judges to look after the interests of contract-less folk who found themselves [[Fardell v Potts|struck by a punt being carelessly navigated the wrong way up a flooded avenue]].


And what does "[[negligence]]" even mean, in the context of a [[contract]], where two merchants have looked each other in the eye and agreed precisely the duties they do owe one another? Would not ''any'' breach of those duties be “negligent”?
And what does [[negligence]]even mean, in the context of a [[contract]], where two merchants have looked each other in the eye and agreed precisely the duties they do owe one another? Would not ''any'' breach of those duties be “negligent”?


[[File:Contractual loss2.PNG|450px|thumb|right|Damage against Wantonness. Mapped. Seriousness pointed out.]] Consider the handsome table to the right. This charts all conceivable breaches of contract. The easiest cases are in the bottom right: not much loss, but the defaulting party has been gratuitous in its behavior and however paltry the claim, has no leg to stand on.  
[[File:Contractual loss2.PNG|450px|thumb|right|Damage against Wantonness. Mapped. Seriousness pointed out.]] Consider the handsome table to the right. This charts all conceivable breaches of contract. The easiest cases are in the bottom right: not much loss, but the defaulting party has been gratuitous in its behavior and however paltry the claim, has no leg to stand on.