AI meets tort law 🐌
A Reddit user has asked ChatGPT to put a spin on a caselaw classic, asking it to explain the facts of Donoghue v Stevenson in a “gangsta way”.
The results, user ‘LyingKnee’ said, are “too funny not to share”. Here they are:
“Yo, listen up fam, let me tell you about the Donoghue v Stevenson case. It’s a lit story that went down back in the day in Scotland, you feel me?
So basically, this girl Donoghue was chilling with her homie and sipping on some ginger beer from a bottle that her pal copped for her. But then, things got real when she found a dead snail in her drink! That’s straight up nasty, right?
So Donoghue was like, “Yo, Stevenson, what the actual f***?! You put a snail in my drink and I could’ve gotten sick or some sht!” But Stevenson was like, “Nah, that ain’t my problem, I didn’t even know you were gonna drink that sht!”
But Donoghue was not having it and took Stevenson to court. And guess what? The judge was like, “Yo, Stevenson, you owe Donoghue a duty of care, so you gotta make sure your sh*t is legit before you sell it to other people. And since you didn’t do that, you gotta pay up, son.”
And that’s how the Donoghue v Stevenson case became a gangsta classic, where the courts recognized that businesses gotta be responsible for their products and not be putting no snails in people’s drinks, you know what I’m saying?”
This could be “a great way to remember case facts”, one Reddit user suggested, whilst another tried it for caselaw classic Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company.
The iconic judgment was handed down over 90 years ago on 26 May 1932 and established the modern civil law tort of negligence. Since then it’s inspired artwork and even a student-made snail sanctuary!
Back in December we asked the chat bot to explain ‘who is it I can sue if I find a snail in my ginger beer bottle under English law’, but Donoghue v Stevenson sadly did not get a shout out.
Follow @legalcheek on TikTok for our spin on caselaw classics.
