Legal Definitions - legal negligence

Legal negligence is the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation. It refers to any conduct that falls below the legal standard established to protect others against unreasonable risk of harm, except for conduct that is intentionally, wantonly, or willfully disregardful of others' rights. The term denotes culpable carelessness.

For example, if a doctor fails to diagnose a patient's illness correctly, and the patient suffers harm as a result, the doctor may be guilty of legal negligence. Similarly, if a driver runs a red light and causes an accident, they may be guilty of legal negligence.

Legal negligence can result in a tort, which is a civil wrong that causes harm or injury to another person. A tort grounded in legal negligence usually involves duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.

Other types of negligence include active negligence, advertent negligence, casual negligence, collateral negligence, comparative negligence, concurrent negligence, contributory negligence, criminal negligence, culpable negligence, gross negligence, hazardous negligence, imputed negligence, inadvertent negligence, joint negligence, negligence in law, negligence per se, ordinary negligence, passive negligence, professional negligence, reckless negligence, simple negligence, slight negligence, subsequent negligence, supine negligence, tax negligence, wanton negligence, willful and wanton negligence, and willful negligence.