第32解

contributory negligence

【英文】Contributory negligence is a doctrine of common law that if a person was injured in part due to his/her own negligence（his/her negligence “contributed” to the accident），the injured party would not be entitled to collect any damages（money）from another party who supposedly caused the accident.Under this rule，a badly injured person who was only slightly negligent could not win in court against a very negligent defendant.

【譯文】共同過失是普通法中的一個法律原理，即：若某人因自己的部分過失而受傷（其本人過失“造就”該事故），那么受傷方則沒有權利向可能造成事故的另一方請求損害賠償。根據這一原則，具有輕微疏忽行為的受傷者即便傷得很重，在與有重大疏忽行為的被告打官司時，是不可能勝訴的。

【解釋】contributory negligence可譯為“共同過失”。與之相關的是comparative negligence，可譯為“相對過失”。

再如：

1.Thus careless driving，knowingly traveling with a drunken driver，and failure to wear a seat belt are common forms of contributory negligence in highway accidents.The effect of contributory negligence is to reduce the claimant’s damages by an amount that the court thinks just and equitable.〔譯文：因而，粗心駕駛、故意與醉駕人員出行、不系安全帶都屬于公路交通事故中常見共同疏忽行為。共同過失之影響在于減少法院認為公平合理的權利主張者的損害賠償金。〕

2.Comparative negligence is a rule of law applied in accident cases to determine responsibility and damages based on the negligence of every party directly involved in the accident.For a simple example，Eddie Leadfoot，the driver of one automobile，is speeding and Rudy Airhead，the driver of an oncoming car，has failed to signal and starts to turn left，incorrectly judging Leadfoot’s speed.A crash ensues in which Airhead is hurt.Airhead’s damage recovery will be reduced by the percentage his failure to judge Leadfoot’s speed contributed to or caused the accident.〔譯文： 相對過失是用在交通事故案件中的法律規則，即依據事故中直接參與方之疏忽行為來確定事故責任與損害賠償金。舉個很簡單的例子，司機埃迪.理德福特在超速行駛，而相向而行的另一輛車的司機魯迪.艾爾赫德對理德福特行車速度判斷錯誤，未給出信號就往左拐。結果發生撞車事故，艾爾赫德受傷。對艾爾赫德的傷害賠償金將根據其因對理德福特車速的錯誤判斷而導致車禍或在車禍中的責任大小按比例減少。〕