Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care under the circumstances, causing legally recognized harm. In plain language, it means someone acted carelessly in a way that the law treats as wrongful because it injured another person or property interest.
Why It Matters
Negligence is one of the most common and important tort concepts. It appears in car accidents, professional mistakes, unsafe property conditions, product use, and many everyday disputes about avoidable harm. Readers who understand negligence can make better sense of related concepts such as duty of care, causation, damages, and comparative negligence.
The concept matters because civil liability does not usually require intentional wrongdoing. A person can be liable simply for failing to act with the level of care the law expects.
Where It Appears
Negligence appears in personal injury complaints, insurance disputes, premises-liability cases, malpractice cases, and appellate decisions discussing whether the defendant acted reasonably and whether that conduct caused the plaintiff’s harm.
Practical Example
A store leaves a large spill in an aisle for hours without warning signs or cleanup. A customer slips, falls, and is injured. The customer’s claim may sound in negligence because the store may have failed to use reasonable care.
How It Differs From Nearby Terms
- A tort is the broader category; negligence is one specific tort theory.
- Duty of care asks what level of care was owed.
- Causation asks whether the defendant’s breach of care legally caused the harm.
- Strict liability does not depend on proving carelessness in the same way.
Related Terms
Knowledge Check
- Does negligence always require intentional harm? No. Negligence usually concerns unreasonable carelessness, not purposeful injury.
- Why is negligence often taught with duty, breach, causation, and damages? Because those ideas help explain how courts analyze whether the claim succeeds.