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Did you know that under the law you owe other people a duty? It isn’t a moral duty or a financial duty. It is a legal duty, and in most cases you owe everyone around you the duty of reasonable care in every action you take.
What does this mean? It means that when you drive your car, or walk your dog, or shoot a gun, society expects you to do it in a reasonable manner so that no one else gets injured. It is a legal standard which means that you are held to the same standard a “reasonable person” would do in your situation.
If it was unreasonable to drive fast on wet and slippery road and you lost control and hit a mailbox, society says you owe the owner of that mailbox for his damages. If it was unreasonable to walk your dog on the public sidewalk without a muzzle because he was known to bite, you are liable to the bitten person.
This legal standard isn’t a moral duty however. If I am on the bank of a river and I see you drowning I do not have a legal duty to risk my life to jump into the water to save you. I may feel a moral duty to try, but you (or your surviving relatives) couldn’t sue me for not rescuing you in most cases. If however, I caused you to be in the position of danger, say like I pushed you into the river, then I have a duty to do everything reasonable to rescue you.
Sometimes the standard for legal duties are higher for certain people or classes of people. For instance, a parent has a higher legal duty to his or her child than to a non-family member. If a parent refuses to seek medical care for a seriously sick child then they may have breached their legal duty to a dependant.
Additionally, medical doctors and other professionals have a higher duty of care for patients under their care than for strangers on the street. None-the-less, we all owe each other the duty of reasonable care in all of our interactions.
Understanding our exact duty to each other depending on the relationship with that person can be confusing. This is why I as a lawyer want to help inform people. Whether you wish to love your neighbor as yourself or despise them with all your might, you still owe them certain duties. So next time you consider doing something that raises red flags in your consciousness, please ask yourself, would a reasonable person do this and what duty do I owe someone who might get harmed by this stunt. Perhaps if we all had a duty to consider that first we wouldn’t still need lawyers.