The fact that negligence is a relatively new legal concept is evident in that it was 1883 when the foundations of negligence law were laid in Heaven v Pender (1,2), and it was not until 1932 that all its essential elements took definitive and widely acceptable form in the decision rendered in the famous case of Donoghue v Stevenson (2, 3). Since then, the legal responsibilities inherent in negligence and the scope and categories of negligence have constantly evolved and expanded so steadily that it can hardly be overlooked that its relevance and application to medical malpractice has assumed an important role in the modern forensic system. issues and focused on the debate. Nevertheless, it is indisputable that the progression of the conception of medical negligence and the expansion of corresponding legal liability have always been intimately linked and subject to the transformative interaction of public policies and values, social conditions and sentiments and community expectations. Lacking a precise legal definition of contract or ownership and fraught with subjective terminologies like reasonableness, rationality and liability, the law of negligence (4) inevitably depends on the interpretation of each constituent factor, making it subject to a variable, even subtle, social and contemporary force of influence. political values, the change of which, resulting from new circumstances as social development and technological progress, gives rise to uncertainty and changes in the law of negligence since its emergence (5). In the 19th century, legal liability was limited to actions, or actus reus, causing "direct and immediate injury to the person or damage to property as in the case of trespass." (2) Beyond this liability action, most of the damage was caused middle of paper ......to R. Litigation and medical compensation crisis. J Law Med. 2004 Nov;12(2):178-87.40. Kessler DP, Summerton N, Graham JR. Effects of the medical liability system in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Lancet. July 15, 2006;368(9531):240-6.41. Ipp DA, Australia. Department of T. Negligence Law Review: Final Report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia; 2002.42. Derrington HD. Theory of negligence put forward in the High Court of Australia. The Australian Law Journal. 2004;78:595-611.43. Sullivan v Moody (2001) 207 CLR 56244. Kalokerinos v Burnet (1996) unreported, NSWCA, BC9600037.45. Young v Central Native Congress Inc [2008] NTSC 47.46. Millenson ML. Advancing the profession: how the media made patient safety a priority. Qual Saf Healthcare. March 2002;11(1):57-63.47. Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] AC 310.