South Australian Current Acts

CIVIL LIABILITY ACT 1936 - SECT 20

20—Occupier's duty of care

        (1)         Subject to this Part, the liability of the occupier of premises for injury, damage or loss attributable to the dangerous state or condition of the premises shall be determined in accordance with the principles of the law of negligence.

        (2)         In determining the standard of care to be exercised by the occupier of premises, a court shall take into account—

            (a)         the nature and extent of the premises; and

            (b)         the nature and extent of the danger arising from the state or condition of the premises; and

            (c)         the circumstances in which the person alleged to have suffered injury, damage or loss, or the property of that person, became exposed to that danger; and

            (d)         the age of the person alleged to have suffered injury, damage or loss, and the ability of that person to appreciate the danger; and

            (e)         the extent (if at all) to which the occupier was aware, or ought to have been aware, of—

                  (i)         the danger; and

                  (ii)         the entry of persons onto the premises; and

            (f)         the measures (if any) taken to eliminate, reduce or warn against the danger; and

            (g)         the extent (if at all) to which it would have been reasonable and practicable for the occupier to take measures to eliminate, reduce or warn against the danger; and

            (h)         any other matter that the court thinks relevant.

        (3)         The fact that an occupier has not taken any measures to eliminate, reduce or warn against a danger arising from the state or condition of premises does not necessarily show that the occupier has failed to exercise a reasonable standard of care.

        (4)         Subject to any Act or law to the contrary, an occupier's duty of care may be reduced or excluded by contract but no contractual reduction or exclusion of the duty affects the rights of any person who is a stranger to the contract.

        (5)         Where an occupier is, by contract or by reason of some other Act or law, subject to a higher standard of care than would be applicable apart from this subsection, the question of whether the occupier is liable for injury, damage or loss shall be determined by reference to that higher standard of care.

        (6)         An occupier owes no duty of care to a trespasser unless—

            (a)         the presence of trespassers on the premises, and their consequent exposure to danger, were reasonably foreseeable; and

            (b)         the nature or extent of the danger was such that measures which were not in fact taken should have been taken for their protection.