in exclusive control of their warehouse and bags of sugar do not ordinarily fall out of warehouses without negligence, it was up to L to provide an alternative explanation. Since L could not, it was presumed that L had not achieved the standard of care expected. Defences Once the pursuer has established on the balance of probabilities that he was owed a duty of care by the defender, and that the defender’s failure to achieve the standard of care expected caused the loss or injury for which the pursuer is seeking a remedy, the pursuer may be said to have established a prima facie case. This means that ‘at first sight’ the pursuer will win and the burden of proof shifts to the defender. The defender can attempt to avoid liability or have the amount of damages which is sought by the pursuer reduced by putting forward appropriate defences or attempting to argue that the damage or injury for which the pursuer is seeking compensation is too remote a consequence of the defender’s negligence. Volenti non fit injuria This Latin maxim basically means ‘to one consenting, no wrong can be done’. Thus if a pursuer appreciates the risk associated with his activity, but nevertheless continues in such a way as to suggest that he is accepting the risk, this will provide the defender with a complete defence - i.e. one which will allow the defender to completely escape liability to the pursuer. It is up to the defender to show that the pursuer has accepted the risk and obviously this means that the defender must first show that the pursuer was appropriately informed of the risk.Titchener v British Railways Board 1984 Note that if the defender does provide a plausible alternative explanation the burden of proof then passes back to the pursuer. Notes Further reading Craig Anderson. Roman law for Scots law students. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2021. Gordon Cameron. Delict, 5th edn. Edinburgh: W. Green/Thomson Reuters, 2019. Gordon Cameron. Thompson's Delictual liability, 6th edn. London: Bloomsbury Professional, 2021. Yvonne McLaren & Josephine Bisacre, eds. Commercial law in a global context. Goodfellow Publishers, 2016. chap. 8: Jill Sterling, ‘Essential elements of the law of delict’. chap. 9: Jill Sterling, ‘Particular issues concerning the duty of care’. chap. 10: Jill Sterling, ‘Particular delicts’. Francis McManus. Delict essentials, 4th edn. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2021. Francis McManus et al. Delict: A comprehensive guide to