Construction Law
CHAPTER 10
NEGLIGENCE
Page 840
What is negligence?
10.01
Negligence refers to an obligation in tort, imposed by law, upon a person to conduct himself with reasonable care so as to ensure that another person or a class of persons will not suffer a particular type of injury, harm or loss. The obligation is founded on an impersonal standard of how a reasonable person should act in particular circumstances, where a particular type of injury, harm or loss is reasonably foreseeable.1 An obligation to act with reasonable care may apply in respect of the action or inaction of a person, including the making of a representation or the failure to make a representation. A duty of care requires a person to act with reasonable care (or reasonable skill and care), as opposed to requiring that a person ensures that another does not come to harm, or suffer a particular type of loss or damage.2