contributory negligence

to cause or contribute to one’s own injuries. Historically at common law, an injured person (plaintiff) whose negligence contributed to their injuries, generally could not recover anything from the at-fault party. Over time, to remedy the harshness of this doctrine, courts created common law exceptions to reduce the harshness of completely barring a recovery. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, though, most states abolished the doctrine of contributory negligence either by judicial precedent or statute in favor of some form of comparative fault or comparative negligence. See Comparative Negligence, Comparative Fault and Proportionate Responsibility.