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Article: Rolling the "barrel" a little further: allowing res ipsa loquitur to assist in proving strict liability in tort manufacturing defects.
- Article from:
- William and Mary Law Review
- Article date:
- March 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 College of William and Mary, Marshall Wythe School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In England in 1863, a barrel of flour rolled out of the second floor of a barn, struck a passerby walking underneath, and, as William Prosser said, rolled "into the lives of all tort lawyers."(1) Faced with this wayward barrel, the English court crafted the now-famous tort doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.(2) The court held that the peculiar circumstances of the accident generated a presumption of negligence, allowing recovery even though the plaintiff could not prove negligence directly.(3) One hundred years later, Chief Justice Traynor of the California Supreme Court ushered in a new liability scheme, holding a manufacturer of a power tool strictly liable in tort for a ...