Page 101 - Liability Insurance IC74

Guide for Liability Insurance

of the injury or damage. However, circumstances
surrounding the accident may be such as to lead to a
presumption of negligence on the part of the wrong doer.
For e.g, if a passerby is injured by a flowerpot falling
from the balcony of the private residence, it is not
necessary for him to prove negligence on the part of
the owner of the private residence so long as he can
prove the occurrence of the accident itself.

The burden is shifted to the negligent person than to
prove that he was not negligent. This is according to
the common law rule that the 'thing speaks for itself'.
According to this rule the mere fact of the accident
constitutes prime of his evidence of negligence. The
role is applicable whether accident is more probably due
to negligence than any other course and the
circumstances leading to the accident are well within
the control and management of the defendant.

(d) Negligence - Ref Q2 of May 2008
Negligence has been defined as the breach of duty
caused by the omission to do something with a reasonable
man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily
regulate the conduct of human affairs, put to, something
which are prudent and reasonable man would not do. In
simple words negligence means 'absence of care'. A
civil action for negligence can be sustained when the

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