Negligence Per Se

Question 1

What is negligence per se?

Answer 1

Negligence per se requires that:
* the law must articulate a mandatory, specific command (as opposed to vague,
generalized guidelines);
* the law must impose some criminal penalty, be it a criminal fine or imprisonment,
for its violation;
* the victim must be within the class of persons the law was designed to protect;
and
* the law must be intended to prevent the type of accident that occurred.

Question 2

If negligence per se is found to be the cause, what elements of negligence are satisfied?

Answer 2

If the victim can show that
negligence per se applies, and the actor has violated the law, then the victim will have
established the elements of duty, the standard of care, and breach. Yet the victim must
separately establish causation and harm

Question 3

What are the 5 exceptions of negligence per se?

Answer 3

Negligence per se will not apply if:
* under the circumstances, complying with the law would have been more dangerous
to the actor or others than disobedience;
* the actor could not reasonably comply with the law because of some incapacity
(e.g., a sudden seizure);
* the actor neither knew nor reasonably should have known that compliance with
the law was required on the relevant occasion;
* the actor could not comply with the law, despite reasonable efforts to comply; or
* the actor faced an emergency not due to the actor’s own misconduct