Contributory negligence in practice

The doctrine of contributory negligence reduces the compensation which the victim of a wrong receives where the victim was partly to blame for his or her own damage. The doctrine is one of the most important rules in English private law. It is frequently relied on by defendants both in litigation an...

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Main Authors: Goudkamp, J, Nolan, D
Format: Journal article
Published: Inner Temple 2016
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author Goudkamp, J
Nolan, D
author_facet Goudkamp, J
Nolan, D
author_sort Goudkamp, J
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description The doctrine of contributory negligence reduces the compensation which the victim of a wrong receives where the victim was partly to blame for his or her own damage. The doctrine is one of the most important rules in English private law. It is frequently relied on by defendants both in litigation and in negotiating settlements, and damages are regularly discounted for contributory negligence by substantial amounts (often as much as 50 per cent). Despite the doctrine’s significance, there has never been a comprehensive empirical analysis of it in England and Wales (or elsewhere). Accordingly, in an effort to improve understanding of this important part of private law, we carried out two empirical studies of it. The first study explores how the doctrine is applied at first instance. The second examines the operation of the doctrine on appeal. In this article we offer an overview of both studies.
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spelling oxford-uuid:9e716796-465d-4218-a61c-994908da92612022-03-27T00:50:07ZContributory negligence in practiceJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9e716796-465d-4218-a61c-994908da9261Symplectic Elements at OxfordInner Temple2016Goudkamp, JNolan, DThe doctrine of contributory negligence reduces the compensation which the victim of a wrong receives where the victim was partly to blame for his or her own damage. The doctrine is one of the most important rules in English private law. It is frequently relied on by defendants both in litigation and in negotiating settlements, and damages are regularly discounted for contributory negligence by substantial amounts (often as much as 50 per cent). Despite the doctrine’s significance, there has never been a comprehensive empirical analysis of it in England and Wales (or elsewhere). Accordingly, in an effort to improve understanding of this important part of private law, we carried out two empirical studies of it. The first study explores how the doctrine is applied at first instance. The second examines the operation of the doctrine on appeal. In this article we offer an overview of both studies.
spellingShingle Goudkamp, J
Nolan, D
Contributory negligence in practice
title Contributory negligence in practice
title_full Contributory negligence in practice
title_fullStr Contributory negligence in practice
title_full_unstemmed Contributory negligence in practice
title_short Contributory negligence in practice
title_sort contributory negligence in practice
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