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.

【译文】共同过失是普通法中的一个法律原理，即：若某人因自己的部分过失而受伤（其本人过失“造就”该事故），那么受伤方则没有权利向可能造成事故的另一方请求损害赔偿。根据这一原则，具有轻微疏忽行为的受伤者即便伤得很重，在与有重大疏忽行为的被告打官司时，是不可能胜诉的。

【解释】contributory negligence可译为“共同过失”。与之相关的是comparative negligence，可译为“相对过失”。

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.〔译文：因而，粗心驾驶、故意与醉驾人员出行、不系安全带都属于公路交通事故中常见共同疏忽行为。共同过失之影响在于减少法院认为公平合理的权利主张者的损害赔偿金。〕

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.〔译文： 相对过失是用在交通事故案件中的法律规则，即依据事故中直接参与方之疏忽行为来确定事故责任与损害赔偿金。举个很简单的例子，司机埃迪.理德福特在超速行驶，而相向而行的另一辆车的司机鲁迪.艾尔赫德对理德福特行车速度判断错误，未给出信号就往左拐。结果发生撞车事故，艾尔赫德受伤。对艾尔赫德的伤害赔偿金将根据其因对理德福特车速的错误判断而导致车祸或在车祸中的责任大小按比例减少。〕