Breach of Statutory Duty

Abstract

Statutes are made by parliament. They represent an entirely different genus of law from common law or judge-made law. Each provides a different source of power. The right of a plaintiff to sue under a statute derives from the statue itself; the right to sue under common law derives from the common law. One is a specific, exactly dated text (the statue); the other an historically informed body of rules and principles (the common law). ... Breaches of a statutory provision on the part of a defendant may be used in one or two ways by the plaintiff: 1. to add to the evidence that the defendant was negligent at common law on the basis of owing a duty of care, breaching that duty, and in doing so, causing damage; or 2. to in itself rise to a cause of action - breach of a statutory duty - which is separate and distinct from a common law negligence claim.