The owner of a used chattel with an inherently dangerous system (such as a pressure vessel) owes a duty of care to persons who may be injured by design defects in that system, requiring the owner to obtain expert advice on design safety. This duty is not discharged by contractual arrangements with an operator that relate only to maintenance and repair arising from use. The duty to obtain expert advice on design safety is characterised as ex facie non-delegable. Where a trial judge's reasons on foreseeability or causation are inadequate but the conclusion was the only one reasonably open on the evidence, the inadequacy does not give rise to a miscarriage of justice.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 23 later cases that cite this judgment.
9 of the 23 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.