(1873-4) LR 9 Ex 125 (Ex Ct). The claimant's sheep were lost overboard a ship in a storm. The ship's operators were in breach of duty under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act (1869) to keep the sheep penned, and the claimant contended that had that duty not been breached, the sheep would not have been swept overboard (see BreachOfStatutoryDuty). It was held that the duty imposed by the Act was to prevent the spread of disease, not to prevent sheep being swept overboard. This case has generally been interpreted to mean that, for a civil action to arise out of breach statutory duty, the loss or harm suffered by the claimant must be of the time the statute was intended to protect against. However, more recent cases show a slight less restrictive interpretation (see, for example, DonagheyVBoltonAndPaul1968.
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