The Question of a Duty To Rescue in Canadian Tort Law: An Answer From France

A man witnesses a canoeist drowning a short distance from the shore.2 For over forty minutes the tenants of an apartment complex listen to the tortured screams of a woman being murdered in the streets below.3 A handful of railway employees watch a boy bleed to death for want of medical attention after he was struck by a passing car.4 The owner of a pleasure craft learns that one of his passengers has fallen overboard into an icy lake.' An innocent party to a motor vehicle accident finds that the driver at fault was injured as a result of the mishap.6 In each of these examples the first mentioned party (or parties) could have safely rendered assistance to the helpless victim. The aim of the present discussion is to show that there ought to be a legal obligation to do so in Canadian tort law.