Establishing breach of the duty of care in the tort of negligence: 2.

This article discusses the law surrounding breach of the duty of care in negligence. A mistake or error does not necessarily mean legal fault and negligence. Judges look at risks and benefits in determining what would have been the appropriate standard of care to be exercised in the circumstances and may decide that the defendant's conduct was reasonable. There are a number of interrelated factors which judges have to balance and these can be categorized as foreseeability of harm, magnitude of risk, burden of taking precautions, utility of the defendant's conduct and common practice.