Consequently, the manufacturers claimed that they were not liable to Mrs Donoghue in any way and owed no duty of care to her and were not liable for any suffering caused to her. The House of Lords, however, decided differently. They held the manufacturers liable to pay compensation to Mrs Donoghue. They decided that it was not necessary that there be a direct contractual connection between the person who caused the damage and the person who suffered the damage. Negligence is committed when there has been a failure to take proper care and loss results.
Conduct is judged by the ordinary everyday standards of humanity.
There must be a duty of care in the circumstances and there must have been a breach of that duty of care. In general, anyone who has been negligent and has caused loss can be sued. Examples of people who have been sued for negligence are manufacturers, retailers, professional people, drivers of motor vehicles, occupiers of premises and even Governments. In English law there must be, and is, some general conception of relations giving rise to a duty of care of which the particular cases found in the book are instances. But acts or omissions which any moral code would censure cannot in a practical world be treated so as to give right to every person injured by them to demand relief.