Ward v. Tesco Stores Ltd. [1976] 1 WLR 810, is an English tort law case concerning the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself").

It deals with the law of negligence and it set an important precedent in so called "trip and slip" cases which are a common occurrence.

The plaintiff slipped on some pink yoghurt in a Tesco store in Smithdown Road, Liverpool.

Spillages happened roughly 10 times a week and staff had standing orders to clean anything up straight away.

During that time nobody came to clear it up.The trial judge had held in Mrs Ward's favour and she was awarded £137.50 in damages.

The relevant principles were enunciated in the classical judgment of Erle CJ in Scott v. London and St Katharine Docks Co. (1865) 3 H&C 596, 601: “where the thing is shown to be under the management of the defendant or his servants, and the accident is such as in the ordinary course of things does not happen if those who have the management use proper care, it affords reasonable evidence, in the absence of explanation by the defendants that the accident arose from want of care.”Now, in this case the floor of this supermarket was under the management of the defendants and their servants.

In my judgment he was justified in taking that view because the probabilities were that the spillage had been on the floor long enough for it to have been cleaned up by a member of the staff.

It may be said to be a duty to use reasonable care to see that the shop floor, on which people are invited, is kept reasonably safe, and if an unusual danger is present of which the injured person is unaware, and the danger is one which would not be expected and ought not to be present, the onus of proof is on the defendants to explain how it was that the accident happened.”It is clear from a later passage in his judgment that Lord Goddard CJ, in referring to the burden of proof, was not saying that the defendants had to disprove negligence.