The Changing State of the Law in Relation to Product Liability in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The lawyer’s answer to the question, ‘When does a liability to pay compensation for damage caused by a product defect arise under English Law as it is today?’, differs according to whether the product which caused the harm was obtained under a contract of sale or supply or not. If I have bought goods from you under a contract of sale (as when I go into your shop and purchase an electric drill or, as a private patient, a medicine from you), then the law requires you to pay compensation to me if those goods do not conform to the terms of our contract and because of that they cause injury to my person or my property. Whether or not you have been a prudent seller, the producer of the goods, or took all reasonable care in relation to the quality and packaging of goods is totally irrelevant, for the law holds you ‘strictly’ liable if you break the terms of our contract. These may be expressed or implied terms.