Court case[1891] 1 QB 86

The defendant and others were members of a shooting party. The plaintiff was employed to carry cartridges and game for the party. The defendant fired at a pheasant; one of the pellets from his gun glanced off the bough of an oak tree and struck the plaintiff in the eye, injuring him. The jury found that the defendant had not been negligent in firing as he did. The plaintiff contended that he was nonetheless entitled to damages because the injury was a direct consequence of the defendant's act (trespass).

Denman J held that the defendant was not liable. Even in an action of trespass, a defendant is not liable for an injury that was neither intended nor caused by his negligence. Since the jury had found that there was no negligence, the injury was the result of an inevitable accident, and judgment was entered for the defendant. Denman J reviewed the older authorities on trespass, including Weaver v. Ward (1616), and concluded that they did not impose liability for an accident utterly without the defendant's fault; whether the action is framed in trespass or in negligence, the plaintiff cannot recover where the jury has negatived negligence.