Which doctrine describes negligence by the plaintiff that contributed to his or her injury, normally, any finding of contributory negligence acts as a complete bar to a plaintiff's recovery?

Which doctrine describes negligence by the plaintiff that contributed to his or her injury, normally, any finding of contributory negligence acts as a complete bar to a plaintiff's recovery?

• A. Contributory negligence
• B. Comparative negligence
• C. Tort law
• D. Legal fiction

Answer: (A)

Contributory negligence describes a situation where the plaintiff’s own carelessness contributed to the injury, and under the traditional rule any amount of fault by the plaintiff completely bars recovery. That strict complete-bar approach is what the question is testing. In practice, many places have moved to comparative negligence, which still considers the plaintiff’s fault but allows damages to be reduced in proportion to fault rather than eliminating recovery entirely. Tort law is the broad field governing civil wrongs, and legal fiction is a separate concept about judicial assumptions; neither specifically captures the idea of the plaintiff’s own fault eliminating recovery.

Contributory negligence describes a situation where the plaintiff’s own carelessness contributed to the injury, and under the traditional rule any amount of fault by the plaintiff completely bars recovery. That strict complete-bar approach is what the question is testing. In practice, many places have moved to comparative negligence, which still considers the plaintiff’s fault but allows damages to be reduced in proportion to fault rather than eliminating recovery entirely. Tort law is the broad field governing civil wrongs, and legal fiction is a separate concept about judicial assumptions; neither specifically captures the idea of the plaintiff’s own fault eliminating recovery.