An innkeeper or licensed club does not owe a duty of care to an adult patron to cease serving alcohol when the patron is or is likely to become intoxicated, except possibly where the patron is so intoxicated as to be completely incapable of rational judgment. The voluntary act of drinking to excess is treated as a deliberate exercise of personal autonomy for which the drinker bears responsibility. The Canadian authorities extending innkeeper liability (Jordan House v Menow, Mayfield v Stewart) are not to be followed in NSW. The question of innkeeper liability for injuries caused by intoxicated patrons to third parties is expressly left open.
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