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Law Cases
Tort Law Cases
Breach of Statutory Duty Cases

Groves v Wimborne [1898] 2 QB 402

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
Rigby LJ
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  • Defendant owned a factory and breached his statutory duty on fencing around dangerous machinery, as a result of which Plaintiff was injured.

  • Plaintiff sued and CA held that this breach of statutory duty (NB NOT breach of merely general tortious duty of care) did give a cause of action. 

Rigby LJ

  • Whether an act is intended to grant a private action depends on taking a “purview” of the whole act.

  • In this case, the only penalty proscribed by the act was a small fine and “the legislature cannot have seriously intended that whether the workman suffered death or mutilation the liability of the master should never exceed” this small fine.

  • He comes to this conclusion because:

    1. The duty was absolute, and couldn’t be delegated; and

    2. The harm caused by a breach of duty could far exceed the fine in terms of value. 

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