Fault

In the civil law. Negligence; want of care. An improper act or omission, injurious to another, and transpiring through negligence, rashness or ignoranco. There are in law three degrees of faults,— the gross, the slight, and the very slight fault. The gross fault is that which proceeds from inexcusable negligence or ignorance; it ls considered as nearly equal to fraud. The slight fault is that want of care which a prudent man usually takes of his business. The very slight fault is that which is excusable, and for which no responsibility is incurred. Civil Code La. art.

3556, par. 13.

In American law

Negligence; an error or defect of judgment or of conduct; any deviation from prudence, duty, or rectitude; any shortcoming or neglect of care or performance resulting from inattention, incapacity, or perversity; a wrong tendency, course, or act.

Railroad Co. v. Berry, 2 Ind. App. 427, 28 N. E. 714; Railway Co. v. Austin, 104 Ga. 614, 30 S. E. 770; School Dist. v. Boston, H. & E. R. Co., 102 Mass. 553, 3 Am. Rep. 502; Dorr v. Harkness, 49 N. J. Law, 571, 10 Atl. 400, 60 Am. Rep. 656.

In commercial law. Defect; imperfection; blemish. See With All Faults. In mining law. A dislocation of strata; particularly, a severance of the continuity of a vein or lode by the dislocation of a portion of it.