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Contributory negligence   /kəntrˈɪbjətˌɔri nˈɛglədʒəns/   Listen
noun
Negligence  n.  
1.
The quality or state of being negligent; lack of due diligence or care; omission of duty; habitual neglect; heedlessness.
2.
An act or instance of negligence or carelessness. "remarking his beauties,... I must also point out his negligences and defects."
3.
(Law) The omission of the care usual under the circumstances, being convertible with the Roman culpa. A specialist is bound to higher skill and diligence in his specialty than one who is not a specialist, and liability for negligence varies acordingly.
Contributory negligence. See under Contributory.
Synonyms: Neglect; inattention; heedlessness; disregard; slight. Negligence, Neglect. These two words are freely interchanged in our older writers; but a distinction has gradually sprung up between them. As now generally used, negligence is the habit, and neglect the act, of leaving things undone or unattended to. We are negligent as a general trait of character; we are guilty of neglect in particular cases, or in reference to individuals who had a right to our attentions.


adjective
Contributory  adj.  Contributing to the same stock or purpose; promoting the same end; bringing assistance to some joint design, or increase to some common stock; contributive. "Bonfires of contributory wood."
Contributory negligence (Law), negligence by an injured party, which combines with the negligence of the injurer in producing the injury, and which bars recovery when it is the proximate cause of the injury.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Contributory negligence" Quotes from Famous Books



... are left in the same position that they were in immediately after the accident—except that they are so much the worse as being liable for an amount of costs which need not be calculated. The case was tried by competent judges and special juries; and yet, by the subtleties of the doctrine of contributory negligence, questions of such extreme nicety are raised that a third jury are required to give an opinion upon the same state of facts upon which two juries have already decided in favour of the plaintiff and ...
— The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit • Richard Harris
... dead; and there was need of a statute permitting such as she to recover damages for distress and anguish of mind. We had had another case in which a young factory worker had been injured by the bursting of an emery wheel; and the law held that the boy was guilty of "contributory negligence" because he had continued to work at the wheel after he had found a flaw in it—although he had had no choice except to work at it or leave the factory and find employment elsewhere. There was need of a law giving workmen better protection in such circumstances. ...
— Stories of Achievement, Volume III (of 6) - Orators and Reformers • Various
... chair has received some of the lessons taught by the Sofa of Crebillion junior? But happily we have arranged your apartment on such a system of prevention that nothing so fatal can happen, or, at any rate, not without your contributory negligence. ...
— Analytical Studies • Honore de Balzac
... case, Minor v. Sharon, 112 Mass. 477, while the court ruled with regard to the defendant's conduct as has been mentioned, it held that whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in not having vaccinated his children was "a question of fact, and was properly left to the jury." ...
— The Common Law • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
... injury to a workman arising out of his employment, should his employer be liable for adequate compensation and be forbidden to set up as a defence a plea of contributory negligence on the part of the workman, or the negligence ...
— The Art of Public Speaking • Dale Carnagey (AKA Dale Carnegie) and J. Berg Esenwein


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