palsgraf rule
Palsgraf rule (pawlz-graf).Torts. The principle that negligent conduct resulting in injury will lead to liability only if the actor could have reasonably foreseen that the conduct would cause the injury. • In Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R., 162 N.E. 99 (N.Y. 1928), two railroad attendants negligently dislodged a package of fireworks from a man they were helping board a train. The package exploded on impact and knocked over some scales that fell on Mrs. Palsgraf. The New York Court of Appeals, in a 4–3 majority opinion written by Chief Justice Benjamin Cardozo, held that the attendants could not have foreseen the possibility of injury to Palsgraf and therefore did not breach any duty to her. In the dissenting opinion, Justice William S. Andrews asserted that the duty to exercise care is owed to all, and thus a negligent act will subject the actor to liability to all persons proximately harmed by it, whether or not the harm is foreseeable. Both opinions have been widely cited to support the two views expressed in them. [Cases: Negligence 213. C.J.S. Negligence § 34.]
