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Negligence - Duty - Applicable Standard of Care

4 important questions on Negligence - Duty - Applicable Standard of Care

What is the STANDARD OF CARE?

The standard of care is the level of conduct demanded of a person so as to avoid liability for negligence. Failure to meet this standard is characterized as breach of duty.

What are the characteristics of the basic standard of a reasonable person?

The reasonable person possesses those attributes that a jury decides represent the community norms, but the reasonable person cannot be expected to be infallible.
The objective standard that the reasonable person possesses, is the general experience of the community, meaning that the knowledge and understanding of the community is relevant.

Is there any flexibility in the Reasonable Person Standard?

Ultimately, in most jurisdictions, a jury will be permitted to consider the physical conditions of the defendant and that the defendant was acting under emergency conditions. BUT mental conditions, inexperience, or stupidity are not taken into account.

What is the Child Standard of Care

Most jurisdictions hold children to a variation of a standard that compares their conduct to other reasonable children of the same age, experience, and intelligence under the same or similar circumstances.
While it is objective in that it compares the child to an external standard of other children, it is far more subjective than the adult reasonable person standard as it allows the jury to consider the child’s specific qualities such as experience and intelligence.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

English for Law

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