Fault

An improper act or omission, which arises from ignorance, carelessness, or negligence. The act or omission must not have been meditated, and must have caused some injury to another.

Lee. Elm. § 783. See "Dolus;" "Negligence;" 1 Miles (Pa.) 40.

Gross fault or neglect consists in not observing that care towards others which a man the least attentive usually takes of his own affairs. Such fault may, in some cases, afford a presumption of fraud, and in very gross cases it approaches so near as to be almost undistinguishable from it, especially when the facts seem hardly consistent with an honest intention. But there may be a gross fault without fraud.

2 Strange, 1099; Story, Bailm. §§ 18-22; Tou Uier, Dr. Civ. lib. 3, tit. 3, § 231.

Ordinary faults consist in the omission of that care which mankind generally pay to their own concerns; that is, the want of ordinary diligence. A slight fault consists in the want of that care which very attentive persons take of their own affairs. This fault assimilates itself to, and in some cases is scarcely distinguishable from, mere accident or want of foresight. This division has been adopted by common lawyers from the civil law. Although the civilians generally agree in this division, yet they are not without a difference of opinion. See Pothier, Observation generale sur le precedent Traite, et sur les suivants, printed at the end of his Traite des Obligain support of this division. On the other side the reader is referred to Thomasius, tom.

2, Dissertationem, page 1006; Le Brun, cited by Jones, Bailm. 27; and Toullier, Dr. Civ. liv. 3, tit. 3, § 231.

In Maritime Law. "Fault" is the technical term for negligence, particularly that contributing to a collision of vessels. In the Law of Sale. Defects, of any kind.

29 N. H. 343; 12 Ired. (N. C.) 49.