In negligence, what is required to establish a duty of care?

• A. The Caparo test alone.
• B. Established case law only.
• C. The Caparo test and established case law; the defendant must owe a duty to the claimant and breach accordingly.
• D. Foreseeability and proximity only.

Answer: (C)

The claim to a duty of care depends on whether the court recognizes a duty in the given circumstances. In negligence, there are two routes the court uses. First, established case law creates duties in well‑settled situations (for example, certain relationships or classes of harm where a duty has long been recognized). Second, for novel or uncertain situations, the Caparo three‑part test is used to decide whether imposing a duty is appropriate: foreseeability of damage, a sufficiently close or proximate relationship between claimant and defendant, and that it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty.

So, to establish a duty of care you apply either the existing duties recognized by precedent or, when the situation isn’t covered by those precedents, the Caparo test. In practice you need both parts: you check established case law for any recognized duty, and you apply Caparo to see if a duty should be recognized in a new or unclear situation. It’s not enough to rely on foreseeability and proximity alone without considering fairness, and Caparo isn’t the sole arbiter where a duty is already clearly established by precedent. Once a duty is established, the next step is to assess breach against the applicable standard of care.