Winterbottom v. Wright

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Winterbottom v. Wright (1842, Court of Exchequer) was one of the key cases in English Common Law responsible for constraining the law's stance on negligence. The case was brought by Mr Winterbottom who claim that he had suffered injuries which "lamed him for life" because of negligence on the part of a Postmaster-General who was responsible for the maintenance of mail delivering carriages. Mr Winterbottom was employed by a third party, Mr Atkinson, a mail co-contractor who had a contract with the Postmaster-General which outlined the Postmaster-General's responsibilty for the carriage maintenance.

Before the ruling in Donoghue v Stevenson and the establishment of the neighbour principle the law’s only reference to negligence was in relation to a breach of contract and as the plaintiff was not in a contract with the defendant the Court of the Exchequer ruled in favour of the defendant. The case also hung on policy; if the plaintiff was able to sue then “there would be unlimited actions” and that the public utility of the Postmaster-General was such that allowing such actions would be undesirable for society.