no-duty doctrine

: a doctrine in tort law: a defendant cannot be held liable for an injury if no duty is owed to the plaintiff; specifically : a doctrine holding that a person in possession of property is under no duty to protect an invitee from a known or obvious hazard and cannot be held liable for injury — called also no-duty rule : a doctrine holding that a person in possession of property is under no duty to protect an invitee from a known or obvious hazard and cannot be held liable for injury — called also no-duty rule