What is the difference between duty of care and standard of care?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Cleveland v. Whelan, 2011 ONCA 244 (CanLII):
The concepts of duty of care and standard of care are distinct but closely related. In Ryan v. Victoria (City), 1999 CanLII 706 (SCC), [1999] 1 S.C.R. 201, at paras. 21 and 25, Major J. explained: [A] discussion of duty centres around its existence, while the standard of care clarifies what the content of the duty is. Where there is no duty there is no negligence. ... A duty of care either exists or it does not.… [W]hen the language of “duty” is framed in terms of its degree or content, what is really at issue is not the duty but the applicable standard of care. While the distinction is obvious, courts from time to time seem to lose sight of that principle. [Citation omitted].
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