contributory negligence

American  

noun

Law.

1. negligence on the part of an injured party that combines with the negligence of another in causing the injury, sometimes so as to diminish or bar the recovery of damages for the injury.

---

contributory negligence British  

noun

1. law failure by an injured person to have taken proper precautions to prevent an accident

---

Etymology

Origin of contributory negligence

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Makes going to Dallas for a Cowboys game such a doubtful decision that your insurance company will refuse to pay on the grounds of contributory negligence.

From New York Times • Jul. 10, 2016

Last week’s fireworks in the council were only the latest in a two-year battle between cyclists and motorists over the city’s contributory negligence law, also known as the 1 percent rule.

From Washington Times • Jul. 4, 2016

The bill killed Tuesday would have changed contributory negligence to a comparative negligence standard, which dictates how the responsibility for an accident would be shared between the parties involved in a crash.

From Washington Post

A decade ago, the legal doctrine of contributory negligence might have barred such a suit because damages usually were not awarded if the victim was to blame in any way.

From Time Magazine Archive

Defendant pleaded that in omitting to sound its hooter the owl was guilty of contributory negligence.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, June 4, 1919. by Various