Res ipsa loquitur

Res ipsa loquitur — a plea used if the employer can prove that the accident could have occurred even if he had not been negligent. 

The onus of proving negligence or breach of statutory duty and that this failure was the cause of the accident rests on the plaintiff except where the facts of any accident are such that the accident would not have occurred without negligence. This is the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur whereby the defendant must prove that the accident could have occurred without negligence on his part, for example see Scott v. London Dock Company [1865] 3 H and C 596. For a more modern approach to this concept and a discussion of the problems involved see Ward v. Tesco Stores [1976] 1 All ER 219. 

The burden of proof in common law cases rests with the claimant - the injured party - who must show that a duty was owed by the party who is being sued, that there was a breach of the duty, and that as a result of that breach damage was suffered by the claimant. The claimant can be helped by procedural rules and rules of evidence. One of these saves the claimant having to show exactly how an accident happened if all the circumstances show that there would not have been an accident except because of lack of reasonable care on the part of the person being sued. This principle is known as res ipsa loquitur - let the facts speak for themselves. 

It must be noted that the extraordinary circumstances defense is not an absolute one. It must be accompanied by the fact that the extraordinary circumstances could not have been avoided even if aU reasonable measures had been taken. In the instance of the closure of airspace due to the presence therein of volcanic ash, the maxim in tort Res ipsa Loquitur (facts speak for themselves) would apply and the airlines who cancelled their flights as a result of the closure need not go to any lengths defending the fact that the circumstances could not be... 

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