Bruce H
June 15, 2003, 09:12 AM
Legal world celebrates legacy of dead slug with a taste for ginger
JIM MCBETH
THE humble slug may not be considered the most popular or attractive of creatures. But one gastropod in particular was responsible for establishing the most important precedent in legal history.
The slimy animal earned notoriety in the text books of law practitioners after drowning in a vat of ginger beer.
The slug was discovered at the bottom of a drink, to the horror of a very determined Glasgow woman who hired a maverick lawyer and took her case to the House of Lords almost exactly 75 years ago.
May Donoghue won a £200 settlement after her 1932 case against a soft-drinks manufacturer, David Stevenson.
The snail that changed legal history lived and died in 1928, and was served with Ms Donoghue’s ice cream "float".
She had travelled with a friend to Frankie Minghella’s "Tally cafe" in Paisley.
The friend, who was never identified, ordered "pear and ice" for herself and a ginger beer float for Ms Donoghue.
Frankie brought the ice cream in a tumbler and poured ginger beer from a bottle produced by Stevenson’s, of Glen Lane, Paisley.
Ms Donoghue spied the gastropod in the bottle and later claimed it made her ill.
Had it been the friend who was accidentally slugged, history would not have been made.
She could have sued Mr Minghella because the law said there was "an oral contract of sale" between them and the owner would have "been taken to have warranted that the ginger beer was fit to drink". But the friend ordered on Ms Donoghue’s behalf.
Thank you and goodnight, said Mr Minghella, but he spoke too soon.
Ms Donoghue consulted Walter Leechman, a lawyer who then sued the manufacturer - a hitherto unknown legal move.
Leechman argued that Stevenson’s had a "duty of care" even without a contract.
Four years later, in the Lords, he established it as a principle of law when Lord Atkin ruled everyone has a duty to "take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour".
He defined a neighbour as "persons so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question".
The principle, which is now established as a legal case study, is applied in every case where a person suffers injury or loss.
Gordon Dalziel, a damages specialist with the Edinburgh law firm Digby Brown, said: "It was earth-shattering. In all damages actions worldwide, it remains the absolute starting point."
In North America, they call it tort. In Scotland, it is delict - the law of negligence and liability.
Millions of damages actions around the world now begin with Lord Atkin’s ruling in the Paisley snail case, a legal cause célèbre about to celebrate its 75th anniversary, a landmark cherished by lawyers.
A group of Canadian lawyers recently exchanged "Donoghue v Stevenson" paperweights, crafted from a genuine Paisley paving stone found where Mr Minghella’s cafe used to be.
A party of American lawyers gathered to worship the "shrine", better known to Paisley buddies as Wellmeadow.
And a modern day ginger beer drinks company, Fentiman, is running competitions to celebrate the anniversary.
The prize on offer is £7,400 - today’s value of Ms Donoghue’s damages award.
The case also indelibly affected local vernacular and the lifespan of David Stevenson. To this day, thirsty West of Scotland children say: "Gie’s a slug (drink) ae yer ginger (lemonade)."
And Mr Stevenson’s grand-daughter, Isla Johnston, 76, believes the case hastened her grandfather’s death.
She said yesterday: "I was small, but I knew there was a shadow over the family. It was going on, literally, above my head. Grandad died within a year. I’m certain the case caused his death."
When I came to the lawyers name coffee erupted.
JIM MCBETH
THE humble slug may not be considered the most popular or attractive of creatures. But one gastropod in particular was responsible for establishing the most important precedent in legal history.
The slimy animal earned notoriety in the text books of law practitioners after drowning in a vat of ginger beer.
The slug was discovered at the bottom of a drink, to the horror of a very determined Glasgow woman who hired a maverick lawyer and took her case to the House of Lords almost exactly 75 years ago.
May Donoghue won a £200 settlement after her 1932 case against a soft-drinks manufacturer, David Stevenson.
The snail that changed legal history lived and died in 1928, and was served with Ms Donoghue’s ice cream "float".
She had travelled with a friend to Frankie Minghella’s "Tally cafe" in Paisley.
The friend, who was never identified, ordered "pear and ice" for herself and a ginger beer float for Ms Donoghue.
Frankie brought the ice cream in a tumbler and poured ginger beer from a bottle produced by Stevenson’s, of Glen Lane, Paisley.
Ms Donoghue spied the gastropod in the bottle and later claimed it made her ill.
Had it been the friend who was accidentally slugged, history would not have been made.
She could have sued Mr Minghella because the law said there was "an oral contract of sale" between them and the owner would have "been taken to have warranted that the ginger beer was fit to drink". But the friend ordered on Ms Donoghue’s behalf.
Thank you and goodnight, said Mr Minghella, but he spoke too soon.
Ms Donoghue consulted Walter Leechman, a lawyer who then sued the manufacturer - a hitherto unknown legal move.
Leechman argued that Stevenson’s had a "duty of care" even without a contract.
Four years later, in the Lords, he established it as a principle of law when Lord Atkin ruled everyone has a duty to "take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour".
He defined a neighbour as "persons so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question".
The principle, which is now established as a legal case study, is applied in every case where a person suffers injury or loss.
Gordon Dalziel, a damages specialist with the Edinburgh law firm Digby Brown, said: "It was earth-shattering. In all damages actions worldwide, it remains the absolute starting point."
In North America, they call it tort. In Scotland, it is delict - the law of negligence and liability.
Millions of damages actions around the world now begin with Lord Atkin’s ruling in the Paisley snail case, a legal cause célèbre about to celebrate its 75th anniversary, a landmark cherished by lawyers.
A group of Canadian lawyers recently exchanged "Donoghue v Stevenson" paperweights, crafted from a genuine Paisley paving stone found where Mr Minghella’s cafe used to be.
A party of American lawyers gathered to worship the "shrine", better known to Paisley buddies as Wellmeadow.
And a modern day ginger beer drinks company, Fentiman, is running competitions to celebrate the anniversary.
The prize on offer is £7,400 - today’s value of Ms Donoghue’s damages award.
The case also indelibly affected local vernacular and the lifespan of David Stevenson. To this day, thirsty West of Scotland children say: "Gie’s a slug (drink) ae yer ginger (lemonade)."
And Mr Stevenson’s grand-daughter, Isla Johnston, 76, believes the case hastened her grandfather’s death.
She said yesterday: "I was small, but I knew there was a shadow over the family. It was going on, literally, above my head. Grandad died within a year. I’m certain the case caused his death."
When I came to the lawyers name coffee erupted.