At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil action case Donoghue v Stevenson.

Paisley is a large town situated in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Located north of the Gleniffer Braes and immediately west of Glasgow, it straddles the banks of the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. It serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area, and is the largest town in the historic county of the same name. It is often cited as "Scotland's largest town" and is the fifth largest settlement in the country, although it does not have city status.

Modern ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage, a type of soft drink. Historically it was a type of beer brewed by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar. Modern ginger beers are often manufactured rather than brewed, frequently with flavour and colour additives, with artificial carbonation. The related ginger ales also are not brewed.

Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly used in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth jurisdictions instead of "landmark case", as used in the United States.

Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 was a landmark court decision in Scots delict law and English tort law by the House of Lords. It laid the foundation of the modern law of negligence in common law jurisdictions worldwide, as well as in Scotland, establishing general principles of the duty of care.