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neg·li·gence /'ne-gli-jəns/ n: failure to exercise the degree of care expected of a person of ordinary prudence in like circumstances in protecting others from a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm in a particular situation; also: conduct that reflects this failure – called also ordinary negligence, simple negligence; compare abuse 2, due care, intent◇ Negligence may render one civilly and sometimes criminally liable for resulting injuries.collateral negligence: negligence on the part of an independent contractor that is not connected with a manner of working or risk ordinarily associated with particular work and for which the employer of the contractor is not liablecom·par·a·tive negligence /kəm-'par-ə-tiv-/1 a: negligence of one among multiple parties involved in an injury that is measured (as in percentages) according to the degree of its contribution to the injurythe comparative negligence of the plaintiffb: a doctrine, rule, or method of apportioning liability and damages in tort law: negligence and damages are determined by reference to the proportionate fault of the plaintiff and defendant with the negligence of the plaintiff not constituting an absolute bar to recovery from the defendant compare contributory negligence in this entry◇ The great majority of states have replaced the doctrine of contributory negligence with that of comparative negligence.2: an affirmative defense alleging comparative negligence by the plaintiffcontributory negligence1: negligence on the part of a plaintiff that contributed to the injury at issue2: a now largely abolished doctrine in tort law: negligence on the part of a plaintiff that contributed to the injury at issue will bar recovery from the defendant; also: an affirmative defense based on this doctrinecriminal negligence: a gross deviation from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person that is manifest in a failure to protect others from a risk (as of death) deriving from one's conduct and that renders one criminally liable – called also culpable negligence; compare gross negligence in this entrygross negligence: negligence that is marked by conduct that presents an unreasonably high degree of risk to others and by a failure to exercise even the slightest care in protecting them from it and that is sometimes associated with conscious and willful indifference to their rights see also recklessness compare criminal negligence in this entrynegligence per se /-ˌpər-'sā, -'sē/: negligence that consists of a violation of a statute esp. designed to protect the public safety◇ Recovery may be had on a theory of negligence per se when the harm resulting from the violation is the type that the statute is designed to prevent, the plaintiff is a member of the class of persons sought to be protected by the statute, and the violation is the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury.ordinary negligence: negligencepassive negligence: failure to do something (as to discover a dangerous condition on one's property) that is not a breach of an affirmative duty and that in combination with another's act is a cause of injurysimple negligence: negligenceslight negligence: failure to exercise the great degree of care typical of an extraordinarily prudent person◇ The category of slight negligence is used much less frequently than ordinary negligence and gross negligence, the other members of a three-level classification that was formerly prevalent.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
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noun
abandonment, breach of duty, carelessness, culpa, delinquency, dereliction, disregard, failure, heedlessness, improvidence, imprudence, inadvertence, inadvertency, inattention, inattentiveness, incautiousness, incircumspection, inconsideration, incuria, indifference, indiligentia, inobservance, irresponsibility, lack of attention, lack of diligence, laxity, laxness, neglectfulness, neglegentia, obliviousness, omission, oversight, recklessness, regardlessness, remissness, slackness, unalertness, unconcern, unmindfulness, unobservance, unwariness, unwatchfulness, want of thought
associated concepts: actionable negligence, active negligence, assumption of risk, causal negligence, comparative negligence, concurrent negligence, contributory negligence, criminal negligence, culpable negligence, estoppel by negligence, gross negligence, imputed negligence, last clear chance doctrine, malpractice, negligence per se, ordinary negligence, passive negligence, res ipsa loquitur, standard of care, supervening negligence, wanton negligence, willful negligence
foreign phrases:
- Magna negligentia culpa est; magna culpa dolus est. — Gross negligence is fault, gross fault is equivalent to a fraud- Culpa lata dolo aequiparatur. — Gross negligence is equivalent to intentional wrongII index delinquency (failure of duty), dereliction, disinterest (lack of interest), disregard (unconcern), fault (responsibility), incompetence, inconsideration, indifference, inertia, laches, lapse (expiration), laxity, maladministration, misconduct, misprision, neglect, nonfeasance, nonperformance, omission, oversight (carelessness)
Burton's Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006
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n.Failure to use the proper care in doing something, i.e., the amount of care that an ordinarily prudent person would use under the same circumstances.adj.negligent
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
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the tort or delict of being careless in breach of a duty to take care. The distinction to be made is between the act or omission itself, which is not enough to create legal liability: for this there must be a breach of pre-existing duty of care. Such a duty can exist on the basis of precedent, as, for example, a doctor to a patient or a carrier to a passenger, or can arise through the proximity of the parties. The categories of negligence are never closed and have been extended to cover liability for negligent misstatements. For the tort to be established, the breach of the duty by the act or omission must also have caused a loss, although if the loss is a pure economic loss there are difficulties.The search for proximity or a suitable relationship between the parties is aided by the notion of reasonable foreseeability of harm of the kind that occurs. But this is not enough on its own to establish liability in every case, although in cases of physical injury or damage to the plaintiff's property it is likely to carry the plaintiff a long way.Negligence in the non-technical sense may well trigger liability under a statute that demands a certain degree of care to be taken. See economic loss, fault, nervous shock.
Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001.
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Failure to exercise the care toward others that a reasonable or prudent person would use in the same circumstances, or taking action that such a reasonable person would not, resulting in unintentional harm to another. Negligence forms a common basis for civil litigation, with plaintiffs suing for damages based on a variety of injuries, from physical or property damage to business errors and miscalculations. The injured party (plaintiff) must prove:1) that the allegedly negligent defendant had a duty to the injured party or to the general public,2) that the defendant's action (or failure to act) was not what a reasonably prudent person would have done, and3) that the damages were directly ("proximately") caused by the negligence. An added factor in the formula for determining negligence is whether the damages were "reasonably foreseeable" at the time of the alleged carelessness. (See also: contributory negligence, comparative negligence, foreseeable risk, damages, negligence per se, gross negligence, family purpose doctrine, joint tortfeasors, tortfeasor, tort, liability, res ipsa loquitur)Category: Small Claims Court & Lawsuits
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
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Any act or omission which falls short of a standard to be expected of "the reasonable man." There is a general requirement that a duty of care is owed, and that there is sufficient proximity between the parties for the scope of the duty to be a reasonable one in the circumstances.Related links
Practical Law Dictionary. Glossary of UK, US and international legal terms. www.practicallaw.com. 2010.
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n. The failure to use reasonable care, resulting in harm to another.@ comparative negligenceThe plaintiff's own negligent acts that bring about a pro rata reduction of the damages owed by the defendant, depending on the degree of the plaintiff's own negligence; compare contributory negligence.=>> negligence.@ concurrent negligenceThe negligence of two or more parties contributing to the ultimate harm.=>> negligence.@ contributory negligenceAny degree of negligence on the part of a plaintiff, which results in a total bar to recovery by the plaintiff, even if the defendant was negligent as well. States are either "comparative" or "contributory" negligence jurisdictions.=>> negligence.@ criminal negligenceNegligence so substantial it is grounds for a criminal prosecution.=>> negligence.@ culpable negligenceNegligent actions committed with a disregard of the consequences.=>> negligence.@ gross negligenceExtreme negligence, acts committed with utter disregard for the consequences, punishable by punitive damages.=>> negligence.@ negligence per seNegligence as to which there is no disputed fact issue and that may therefore be determined by the court without recourse to a jury.=>> negligence.@
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
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Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances.In order to establish negligence as a cause of action under the law of torts (See tort law), a plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct, the defendant's negligent conduct was the cause of the harm to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff was, in fact, harmed or damaged.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
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Conduct that falls below the standards of behavior established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. A person has acted negligently if he or she has departed from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person acting under similar circumstances.In order to establish negligence as a cause of action under the law of torts, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff, the defendant breached that duty by failing to conform to the required standard of conduct, the defendant's negligent conduct was the cause of the harm to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff was, in fact, harmed or damaged.II Failure to use care which a reasonable and prudent person would use under similar circumstances.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
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n.failure to exercise the care toward others which a reasonable or prudent person would do in the circumstances, or taking action which such a reasonable person would not. Negligence is accidental as distinguished from "intentional torts" (assault or trespass, for example) or from crimes, but a crime can also constitute negligence, such as reckless driving. Negligence can result in all types of accidents causing physical and/or property damage, but can also include business errors and miscalculations, such as a sloppy land survey. In making a claim for damages based on an allegation of another's negligence, the injured party (plaintiff) must prove: a) that the party alleged to be negligent had a duty to the injured party-specifically to the one injured or to the general public, b) that the defendant's action (or failure to act) was negligent-not what a reasonably prudent person would have done, c) that the damages were caused ("proximately caused") by the negligence. An added factor in the formula for determining negligence is whether the damages were "reasonably foreseeable" at the time of the alleged carelessness. If the injury is caused by something owned or controlled by the supposedly negligent party, but how the accident actually occurred is not known (like a ton of bricks falls from a construction job), negligence can be found based on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitor (Latin for "the thing speaks for itself"). Furthermore, in six states (Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland) and the District of Columbia, an injured party will be denied any judgment (payment) if found to have been guilty of even slight "contributory negligence" in the accident. This archaic and unfair rule has been replaced by "comparative negligence" in the other 44 states, in which the negligence of the claimant is balanced with the percentage of blame placed on the other party or parties ("joint tortfeasors") causing the accident. In automobile accident cases in 16 states the head of the household is held liable for damages caused by any member of the family using the car under what is called the "family purpose" doctrine. Nine states (California, New York, Michigan, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island) make the owner of the vehicle responsible for all damages caused by a driver given permission to use the car, whether or not the negligent driver has assets or insurance to pay a judgment. Eight states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) allow the owner to rebut a presumption that the driver was authorized to use the car. Negligence is one of the greatest sources of litigation (along with contract and business disputes) in the United States.See also: comparative negligence, contributory negligence, damages, family purpose doctrine, foreseeable risk, gross negligence, joint tortfeasors, liability, negligence per se, res ipsa loquitur, tort
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
