“Psychiatric injury recoverable where claimant fears immediate personal physical danger.”
Mrs Dulieu was working in a public house when the defendant's horse and van crashed through the window. She was not physically injured but suffered shock and gave birth prematurely as a result.
Whether damages could be recovered for psychiatric injury (nervous shock) without physical impact or injury.
The court held that Mrs Dulieu could recover damages for her psychiatric injury and consequential harm.
This was a pioneering case in recognising psychiatric injury as compensable damage in tort. It established the foundation for later developments in nervous shock law, though its restrictive approach was later expanded.
You're reading the free summary of Dulieu v White. Create a free account to unlock the full reasoning, the cited authorities and the verbatim judgment — plus structured briefs for 412,000+ UK judgments.
No card required. Free forever.
OSCOLA Citation
Dulieu v White & Sons [1901] 2 KB 669
Multiple official and mirror sources — pick whichever loads cleanly on your network.
Falls back to Google for old citations BAILII catalogues separately
Common Room
0 comments · About the Common Room →
No comments yet — start the discussion.
Voted-best comments help future students and feed Caselaw's AI study tools.