Good neighbor principle,中文“好邻居原则”,是英国法下的一个原则。它的含义是:人们应尽可能地避免伤害合理预测下可能因他们的行为受到影响的人,否则便对受伤的一方负注意义务。
这一原则由议长阿特金(Lord Atkin)在多诺休诉史蒂文森案(Donoghue v Stevenson [1932])一案中提出。 多诺休一名普通妇女,在商店购买了史蒂文森啤酒商生产的啤酒。因啤酒内有蜗牛,多诺休喝后引起了严重的胃溃疡,并起诉了史蒂文森啤酒商。尽管多诺休和啤酒商没有合同利害关系,但议长阿特金最终认为啤酒商对多诺休负有注意义务。他认为根据圣经中“爱你的邻居”,每个人都应爱护自己的邻居并不伤害他们,因此每个人对其联系紧密的人都负有注意义务。以下是他在案件中的原话,清晰地体现了好邻居原则:
“The rule that ‘you are to love your neighbor’ becomes in law ‘you must not injure your neighbor’ and the lawyer’s question ‘who is my neighbor You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.”