Moynihan v Moynihan
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Judgment Date | 29 July 1975 |
| Docket Number | [1972 No. 267 P] |
| Date | 29 July 1975 |
Vicarious liability -Infant guest - Infant upsetting teapot and being scalded - Liability of householder for act of adult guest.
The infant plaintiff was two years old at the date of her accident. The defendant was the mother of the plaintiff's father, and she lived in her house with her adult daughter. The plaintiff's father and mother and the plaintiff were invited by the defendant to her house for a meal. When everyone had finished eating, it was decided that a pot of tea should be prepared. The plaintiff's father left the house; the plaintiff's mother left the breakfast-room, where the meal had been eaten, and started to wash the dishes in the adjoining kitchen; the defendant went into the kitchen and started drying the washed dishes; and the defendant's daughter made the tea. The plaintiff remained in the breakfast-room; it was possible for the plaintiff's mother to see into the breakfast-room from her position in the kitchen. When she had made the tea, the defendant's daughter placed a brightly-coloured tea cosy on the teapot and placed the teapot on the breakfast-room table; she then left the breakfast-room hurriedly to answer a telephone which was ringing in the hall of the house; while she was absent, the plaintiff upset the contents of the teapot over herself. The plaintiff was seriously injured and she claimed damages in the High Court for the alleged negligence of the defendant, her servants and agents. At the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
O'Brien v Wohlman
...The plaintiff according to the defendants” submission, would have to call in aid the principles established in Moynihan v. Moynihan [1975] IR 192, where de facto service was held to give rise to vicarious liability. The receiver defendant maintains that in the circumstances of Mr Durojaiye......
-
Hickey v McGowan
...the leading example of a non-employment relationship giving rise to liability for the negligence of another is Moynihan v Moynihan [1975] IR 192. There, a householder was sued for the negligence of another, Marie, in placing a pot of tea covered with a bright tea cosy attractive to a child ......
-
Kemmy v Ireland
...179; Brown v Attorney General [2005] 2 NZLR 405 ; McKean v AG [2008] 1 LRC 694; Health Board v BC [1994] 5 ELR 27; Moynihan v Moynihan [1975] IR 192; Lynch v Palgrave Murphy Ltd [1964] IR 50; Cork County Council v Health and Safety Authority [2008] IEHC 304, (Unrep, Hedigan J, 7/10/2008); ......
-
O'Keeffe v Hickey and Others
...should be taken into account - Fox v Higgins (1912) 46 ILTR 222, McEneaney v Minister for Education [1941] 1 IR 430, Moynihan v Moynihan [1975] 1 IR 192 and Crowley v Ireland [1980] IR 102 followed; Trotman v North Yorkshire County Council [1999] LGR 584 approved; Bazley v Curry (1999) 174 ......
-
Some Comments about 'Caution': Emerging Trends in Irish Negligence Law
...that: [T]he scope of many decisions of this Court: I instance Purtill v. Athlone District Council [1968] IR 205; Moynihan v. Moynihan [1975] IR 192; Ward v. McMaster [1988] IR 337 and Sunderland v. Louth County Council [1990] ILRM 658, establishes that the answer to the question whether neg......
-
Is Corrective Justice Subsidiary to Distributive Justice? Which Answer Better Captures The Meaning of Tort Law Practice?
...tortious issues vis-h-vis public authorities in this context). The same learned judge took a very pragmatic view in Moynihan v Moynihan [1975] IR 192, where a two year old child was scalded when she spilled the teapot over herself while members of the family were out of the room. The issue ......
-
Recent developments in the law of torts
...started up the street, with scuffling and shouting. The girl seemed upset about something. He says that when he went back inside 55 [1975] I.R. 192 56 High Court, unreported, Laffoy J., 23 June 1997. Judicial Studies Institute Journal 2004] Recent Developments in the Law of Torts 29 he said......
-
Judges as Lawmakers: the irish experience
...Forms of Liability’, pp. 35-36. 10See in this context the somewhat perplexing decision of the Supreme Court in Moynihan v. Moynihan [1975] I.R. 192 (S.C.). The two-year-old plaintiff suffered severe burns when she pulled a pot of tea over herself in her grandmother’s house. The grandmother ......