Contributory Negligence Principles and Practice

by Goudkamp, James; Nolan, Donal

• ISBN13: 9780198814238
• ISBN10: 0198814232
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2019-01-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Despite the centrality of the contributory negligence doctrine in practice, very little is known about how it functions in reality. This volume provides legal practitioners with a 'one-stop-shop' where they can find a clear and succinct exposition of the legal principles governing contributory negligence alongside an empirically informed analysis of the way that the doctrine operates in various recurrent factual scenarios, based on cases decided between 1998 and 2017.

For each of the given recurring acts of contributory negligence, the average discount, the range of discounts, and the distribution of discounts are reported. These statistics are supplemented by way of illustrations drawn from the case law. Short summaries of typical cases for the relevant act of contributory negligence are given, along with summaries of cases that fall towards the higher and lower ends of the range of discounts.

"This concise book will assist courts and practitioners in understanding this area of the law, and in applying a consistent approach when assessing, in the most common types of case, the extent to which damages should be reduced for contributory negligence. It is greatly to be welcomed." - The Rt Hon Lord Reed (from the Foreword)

Author Biography

James Goudkamp, Associate Professor, Oxford Law Faculty, University of Oxford, and Donal Nolan, Professor of Private Law, University of Oxford.

James Goudkamp is a Fellow of Keble College and is an Associate Professor in the Oxford Law Faculty. James specialises in private law subjects. He has published numerous books, as an author or editor, and many articles, chapters and case notes. A sizeable amount of his writing is concerned with the law of contributory negligence.

Donal Nolan is Professor of Private Law at the University of Oxford, and the Francis Reynolds and Clarendon Fellow and Tutor in Law at Worcester College, Oxford. Donal has published extensively on a range of private law topics, and has a particular interest in the law of negligence and the law of private nuisance.

Table of Contents

PART I
1. Introduction
PART II
2. The Contributory Negligence Doctrine
3. Apportionment of Responsibility
4. Related Rules
5. Procedure
6. Appeals
PART III
7. Frequently Recurring Situations: Introduction
8. Intoxicated Pedestrian Injured by Motorist
9. Non-intoxicated Pedestrian Injured by Motorist: Adult Pedestrian
10. Non-intoxicated Pedestrian Injured by Motorist: Child Pedestrian
11. Failure to Wear a Seat Belt
12. Speeding
13. Slip-and-Fall Accident: Workplace
14. Slip-and-Fall Accident: Public Place
15. Slip-and-Fall Accident: Occupiers' Liability
16. Carelessness in Connection with Work Equipment
17. Carelessness in or while Working at Height
18. Children Injured while Playing
19. Other Recurrent Situations