- reasonable person
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reasonable person n: a fictional person with an ordinary degree of reason, prudence, care, foresight, or intelligence whose conduct, conclusion, or expectation in relation to a particular circumstance or fact is used as an objective standard by which to measure or determine something (as the existence of negligence)we have generally held that a reasonable person would not believe that he or she has been seized when an officer merely approaches that person in a public place and begins to ask questions — State v. Cripps, 533 N.W.2d 388 (1995) – called also reasonable man;
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
- reasonable person
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n.A hypothetical person with ordinary intelligence, prudence, caution, and good judgment who is interested in protecting his or her own interests and the safety and well-being of others, used as a benchmark for measuring the behavior of a defendant in a negligence case; also called a reasonable man or reasonable woman in cases where gender is a factor.
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
- reasonable person
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A legal standard used in negligence (personal injury) cases. The hypothetical reasonable person behaves in a way that is legally appropriate. Those who do not meet this standard — that is, they do not behave at least as a reasonable person would — are considered negligent and may be held liable for damages caused by their actions.Category: Accidents & Injuries → Resolving Your Personal Injury Case
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
- reasonable person
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n. An imaginary person who is used as the legal measuring stick against which to determine whether or not a defendant exercised appropriate caution in an undertaking, or whether he exhibited negligence by not taking the precautions that the hypothetical reasonable person may have taken under the given circumstances, or by doing something that a reasonable person would not have done.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
- reasonable person
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A phrase frequently used in tort and criminal law (See tort law; criminal law) to denote a hypothetical person in society who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct and who serves as a comparative standard for determining liability.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
- reasonable person
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I
A phrase frequently used in tort and criminal law to denote a hypothetical person in society who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct and who serves as a comparative standard for determining liability.II A phrase used to denote a hypothetical person who exercises qualities of attention, knowledge; intelligence, and judgment that society requires of its members for the protection of their own interest and the interests of others. Thus, the test of negligence is based on either a failure to do something that a reasonable person, guided by considerations that ordinarily regulate conduct, would do, or on the doing of something that a reasonable and prudent (wise) person would not do.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
