Contributory Negligence

Emanuel van Dongen, PhD (2013) in Law, Maastricht University, is an Assistant Professor at the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law, Utrecht University, the Netherlands, and Research Fellow at the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (UCALL). He has published previously on legal history, Roman law and contributory negligence.

Acknowledgments ... xiii
Abbreviations ... xv

Chapter One Introduction ... 1
1.1 The subject of this study ... 1
1.2 Methodology ... 5
1.3 Structure ... 10

Chapter Two Roman Law in Antiquity ... 13
2.1 Introduction ... 13
2.2 The origin of the regula of D. 50.17.203 ... 16
2.3 Alfenus’ reply in the case of the innkeeper ... 30
2.4 Ulpian’s reply in the case of the javelin throwers ... 54
2.5 Ulpian’s reply in the barber case ... 78
2.6 General treatment of all relevant cases in Justinian law ... 98
2.7 Concluding remarks ... 102

Chapter Three Medieval Ius Commune ... 105
3.1 Introduction ... 105
3.2 Medieval Roman legal scholarship ... 109
3.3 Canon law ... 146
3.4 Short comparative remarks ... 177
3.5 Concluding remarks ... 183

Chapter Four Early Modern Period ... 189
4.1 Introduction ... 189
4.2 Legal humanism ... 192
4.3 A general introduction to the period of the Reception of Roman law ... 222
4.4 Roman-Dutch law ... 227
4.5 Usus modernus pandectarum ... 255
4.6 The northern natural law school ... 285
4.7 Concluding remarks ... 298
5.1 Introduction: content, method and structure ... 303
5.2 Codifications around 1800 ... 308
5.3 Conservatism in nineteenth-century legal doctrine and the struggle of nineteenth-century judges ... 312
5.4 Codifications around 1900 ... 331
5.5 Modern contemporary solutions to the problem of contributory negligence ... 339
5.6 Traffic accidents: rise and fall of the all-or-nothing approach? ... 353
5.7 Contributory negligence after the damaging event ... 358
5.8 Harmonisation: rules for the future? ... 362
5.9 Concluding remarks ... 367

Chapter Six Summary and Concluding Remarks ... 373
6.1 Introduction ... 373
6.2 Roman law in Antiquity ... 374
6.3. Medieval ius commune ... 376
6.4 The humanistic contribution ... 379
6.5 Reception, Roman-Dutch law and usus modernus ... 379
6.6 The northern natural law school ... 381
6.7 The concept of contributory negligence in the nineteenth century ... 382
6.8 The concept of contributory negligence in modern and contemporary law ... 384
6.9 To conclude ... 386

Bibliography ... 389

Index of Names ... 453
Index of Sources ... 459
Index of Cases ... 473