DUTY TO PROTECT, DUTY TO CONTROL AND THE DUTY TO WARN

Abstract

In this article the author addresses the question of liability for failure to prevent the risk of injury to another Unlike the civil law and the statutory law of the state of Vermont the common law has not developed a general duty to warn of a risk and thereby prevent harm. Where such an obligation has been imposed it is possible to characterise the cases as very fact-sensitive'or as based on some specific relationship between the plaintiff and defendant. This essay presents the arguments for the acceptance of a generalised duty.