Origin The Latin phrase dates to Cicero's Pro Milone, 52 BC; its use as an English and American common law negligence doctrine developed in the nineteenth century.
Res ipsa loquitur, Latin for the thing speaks for itself, is a doctrine of tort law that allows a court or jury to infer a defendant's negligence from the very circumstances of an accident or injury, without direct evidence of specifically how the defendant behaved, when the injury is of a kind that ordinarily does not occur absent negligence and the instrumentality that caused it was within the defendant's control. The phrase itself dates to the Roman orator Cicero's defense speech Pro Milone in 52 BC, though its use as a doctrine of English and American negligence law developed many centuries later. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Origin PeriodThe Latin phrase dates to Cicero's Pro Milone, 52 BC; its use as an English and American common law negligence doctrine developed in the nineteenth century. 1 Core PrincipleWhere an injury is of a kind that does not ordinarily occur without negligence, and the thing that caused it was under the defendant's control, a plaintiff can establish a prima facie case of negligence from the circumstances alone, without proving the defendant's specific negligent act. 1 Origin Period
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Source Res Ipsa Loquitur (Wikipedia)
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1. Res Ipsa Loquitur (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
the thing speaks for itself
- a doctrine in common law and Roman-Dutch law jurisdictions under which a court can infer negligence from the very nature of an accident
- In Legal System: Common Law
In Group: Negligence and Duty of Care Doctrines, Introduction, sentence 1
Res ipsa loquitur (Latin: "the thing speaks for itself") is a doctrine in common law and Roman-Dutch law jurisdictions under which a court can infer negligence from the very nature of an accident or injury in the absence of direct evidence on how any defendant behaved in the context of tort litigation.
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