What, then, is the nature of the reasonable person? A phrase frequently used in tort and Criminal Law to denote a hypothetical person in society who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct and who serves as a comparative standard for determining liability. This cricket ground had been used for 90 years at the time of the case. In Australian law, the reasonable person has been characterised as "the man on the Bondi tram" - an average member of society, who has various generalised attributes including risk aversion, sound judgment and a sense of self-preservation, which prevents them from walking blindly into danger. The court stated that: “[i]n order that the act may be negligent there must be not only a reasonable possibility of its happening, but also of injury being caused.”. Judges have an innate sense of fairness or may show an instinctive response to facts of a case which may influence a judge to apply a certain degree of conscious or unconscious subjectivity (Irwin at 41). Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that certain situations require modification of the reasonable person standard. He acts in accord with general and approved practice. 131 (“Arland”), Laidlaw J.A. Importantly, the reasonable person represents an objective (rather than subjective) standard. In addition, one may look to external indicators of reasonable conduct, such as custom, industry practice, and statutory or regulatory standards” (. The primary device used to determine breach of the standard of care is called the reasonable person. The burden of establishing bias is upon the claimant. The Court noted that in the previous six years, the ball had only been hit onto the highway six times and no one had ever been injured. •If a court decides that a reasonable person should have been able to predict, or foresee, the injury created, the defendant can be found liable, or in breach of his or her duty of care. Unfortunately, the haystack spontaneously combusted and destroyed some of the plaintiff’s property. During his fall, he reached out and touched the live wires. Define what could be legally required of a reasonableperson to maintain safety for visitors to a play space In other words, the law requires everybody, regardless of personal idiosyncrasies, to live up to a minimum standard of performance (Linden, pg 131). •Part of the reasonable person test involves foreseeability—a person’s ability to anticipate the specific result of an action. Even though the reasonable person test represents an objective standard, it may be applied variously in the sense that “the measure of what is reasonable depends on the facts of each case, including the likelihood of a known or foreseeable harm, the gravity of that harm, and the burden or cost which would be incurred to prevent the injury” (Ryan, para 28). A 10-year-old climbed up the tree and fell out. 131, para 50) (“Stewart”). Since they hold themselves out as having additional skills and experience, more may be demanded of professionals (Linden, pg 149). No consideration is given to the defendant’s thought process or personal awareness of danger. Canada inherited the reasonable person standard from England in Vaughn v. Menlove, 1837 132 ER 490. Canadian Criminal Law uses the standard of the reasonable person as an open textured definition for the threshold of criminality if conduct is, per se, useful for society but becomes undesirable when done in certain circumstances, without proper precautions. This reasonable person standard can be used to put a … Where the harm has occurred unintentionally or due to carelessness, the court will apply the reasonable person standard. However, even this exception is limited. Individual characteristics are excluded such as intelligence, strength, maturity, or temperament; The reasonable person is not a particular person. Call us today: (604) 669-6609  Toll free: 1 (844) 568-1004. For example, a lawyer will be held to the standard of a reasonably competent lawyer (Central Trust Co. v. Rafuse, [1986] 2 SCR 147) and police officers are held to the standard of a reasonable police officer (Hill v. Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Services Board, [2007] 3 SCR 129). The court rejected the defendant’s argument that he had acted honestly and in good faith even though he built a shoddy haystack. These cases demonstrate that reasonably foreseeable risk is an essential component of liability and context is important in determining if negligence occurred. In this case, an individual of “lower intelligence” (as noted in the case) built a shoddy haystack too close to the plaintiff’s land. Aaida Peerani is a former Staff Lawyer and former Editor for LawNow Magazine at the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta. This is the basis of the reasonable personal standard. The existence of reasonable and probable grounds is a question of law (Shepherd at paragraph 20), which the Crown bears the onus of proving (e.g., where an officer demands that an accused submit to a breathalyser test) (Shepherd at paragraph 16). Unfortunately, the haystack spontaneously combusted and destroyed some of the plaintiff’s property.The court reje… This must be the case, for if it were not, then the law would be “co-extensive with the judgment of each individual, which would be as variable as the length of the foot of each individual” resulting in “so vague a line as to afford no rule at all, the degree of judgment belonging to each individual being infinitely various” (Vaughan v. Menlove; (1837), 3 Bing. The standard does not apply if a person is short-sighted, poorly co-ordinated, slow, elderly, or arthritic. The case under consideration falls under delict, and the five elements referred to above must be established by the appellant to succeed in her claim. For example, the standard applies if a person is blind, deaf or a paraplegic. Generally, the justice system attempts to address issues of judicial subjectivity by providing special training and professional development to judges. Sometimes, a judge’s preconceived notions can result in errant subjectivity. As such, Donoghue v Stevenson (and subsequent cases) have held defendants to the standard of the reasonable man. What is the reasonable person test? Everyone is held up to the reasonable person standard, including the victim. While it’s up to the jury to decide what’s reasonable in any given situation, the jury evaluates behavior based on an objective, reasonable person. They are judged based on the average or general skills or knowledge of their particular group. Strictly according to the fiction, it is misconceived for a party to seek evidence from actual people in order to establish how the reasonable man would have acted or what he would have foreseen. 201, para 28) (“Ryan”). A phrase frequently used in tort and Criminal Law to denote a hypothetical person in society who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct and who serves as a comparative standard for determining liability. A person must exercise the standard of care that would be expected of an ordinary, reasonable and prudent person in the same circumstances to avoid liability; Canada inherited the reasonable person standard from England in, Where the harm has occurred unintentionally or due to carelessness, the court will apply the, A Website of The Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta. However, the reasonable person is not perfect, and may even create risks. The expression is sometimes stated as the man on Clapman omnibus.. In former Justice Camp’s case, however, a disciplinary panel found that his comments deserved dismissal and he subsequently resigned. In addition, one may look to external indicators of reasonable conduct, such as custom, industry practice, and statutory or regulatory standards” (Ryan v. Victoria (City), [1999] 1 SCR 201). The test is whether a reasonable person properly informed would ... civil context helpfully reflect a representative cross-section of the types of judicial conduct that could result in a case being sent back for redetermination. For example, unreasonableness will mean different things for “children, those with mental disabilities, and for professional people” (Linden, pg 119). The test as to whether a person has acted as a reasonable person is an objective one, and so it doesn't take into account the specific abilities of a defendant. Although this case utilized objective elements in assessing adequate provo- The court found that the construction company was not liable because the jogger withheld disclosure of her physical impairment at trial and did not see a doctor until an infection had already set in. 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