describe the legal obligation in duty of care in negligence?

Answer 1

Negligence is a failure of duty of care!

The obligation lays in compliance with the relevent legislation.

Answer 2

The duty of care could be many things depending on the circumstances. If the Defendant is a landholder their duty of care might be elevated. Their duty would also depend on the level of the person on the land, i.e. if they were an invitee vs. a trespasser. But it mostly has to due with foreseeability of harm. If the defendant could foresee that harm may occur, they have a duty to prevent that harm. The best way to see whether the defendant had a duty is by using the Learned Hand analysis. If the Burden to prevent the harm is less than the Probability that an accident might happen times the amount the Loss, then there is a duty.
Burden < Probability of harm x Amount of Loss = Duty

B < PxL = Duty
B > PxL = Probably no duty

Answer 3

The duty of care implies that one has a duty to act reasonably. When a person fails to act reasonably towards another person to whom the duty is owed and the other person is damaged as a result then their is negligence. Put simply their are three elements to the civil tort of negligence:

1. Defendant owes a duty to plaintiff

2. Defendant breaches the duty.

3. The Plaintiff is damaged as a result of the breach.

Note: only lawyers can give legal advice. I am not a lawyer.

Answer 4

I quite like citizen1984's answer but would add just a little: The duty of care is owed to anyone who might reasonably be expected to be affected by the act or omission. This has been interpreted very broadly by the courts. For a fuller answer (plus details of cases to be cited if you are answering a law question as part of a course of study) any introductory law book should cover it.