NEGLIGENCE IN LAW

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20892, 23 November 1937, Page 11

NEGLIGENCE IN LAW

PROPOSED NEW LEGISLATION

ADDRESS TO ROTARY CLUB

“The Importance of Negligence’’ was the title of an address given at the Timaru Rotary Club yesterday by Rotarian W. D. Campbell. The chairman, for the day was Rotarian D. Todd.

Mr Campbell said that the proposed new legislation concerning motorists and negligence was of great importance. Probably many rotarians had served on juries when cases concerning negligence had come before them, and so the question of negligence was not altogether unknown to them. The law concerning negligence was much the same in this country as it was in England, and it had been worked out for generations. He had chosen the title of his address as “The Importance of Negligence’’ because it was a matter which touched them all, and they were lucky if at some time during their lives they were not called on to answer for some act or omission which might be held to be negligence. It was a matter which was very much in the air to-day, because there was a proposal that Parliament should be asked to bring in an Act making a motorist liable for any damage that might be caused by his car whether he was

negligent or not. Such an Act would introduce a very great change in the law of negligence, and it had attracted the attention of motorists who made it their business to look after the interests of other motorists. It stood to reason that if motorists had to compensate everyone who was injured in a collision, then they would have to pay higher premiums, for no one would use a car without being protected by an insurance policy. Claims would be very greatly increased, and it was interesting to note the remarks of the Hon. Downie Stewart at the annual meeting of an insurance company In Dunedin. He said that in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of the Minister of Transport to reduce the appalling number of road, accidents, the claims to be met steadily mounted up, and as a general rule, much higher damages had to be paid than was the case a few years ago. Indeed, during the last two years, claims to be provided for under compulsory third-party risks had exceeded premiums by nearly £120,000 and early this year a revision of rates to be charged under the Act had to be gazetted.

Deaths From Road Accidents Mr Campbell also pointed out that in a statement Issued last week, the Hon. R. Semple hid said that deaths from road accidents for a period of 14 months to. the end of October totalled 235 as against 265 for the preceding 14 months. That meant that there had been more than 500 deaths from road accidents in a little more than two years. In a case in Christchurch recently, a claim had been made for £l5OO on behalf of the estate of a child of 35, who had been killed in a road accident. If that £l5OO was accepted as a basis, then the 500 deaths would have cost the motorists £750,000 if the proposed legislation had been in force. ~a ;

The speaker said that there would be no. legal difficulty in making t’e motorists liable, and the idea was not a new one. Mr Campbell quoted instances where at one time an outsider could walk into a factory and be injured through the negligence of an employee, but if one employee was injured through the negligence of an"Stner, then the employer was not liable. That was the theory of the thing, and that had only been wiped .odt'.ifl 1 New Zealand by an Act passed last year. It was just 100 years ago that the first case concerning negligence was decided in England and that atose/put of an injury to a butcher’s assistant, who was hurt when a cart collapsed. The Judge dismissed the claim, holding that the employer was pot liable. There had never been laid down an authoritative definition of negligence, one which would cover all the circumstances of every case. The test of the position was what the average reasonable man would or would not have done. The present system gave a flexible standard to measure the conduct of everyone in all circumstances of life.

Mr Campbell went on t say that there were times when a motorist was guilty of negligence, but the other party might also be guilty of contributory negligence. Very often .it was extremely difficult to say-.who should pay, and Judges In directing juries had to do the best they could to make juries understand the different points. It was this nr -n, he ...ougl which was partly due for the proposed new legislation. The financial question was ohly one aspect of the matter, but he thought that it was sufficiently important t-. wari’ant :s e had g’-en 1- . , On the motion of Rotarian S. G. McClelland, the speaker was accorded a vote of thank-