Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

NEGLIGENCE

NECK-VERSE

807

an office as obliges one, in the execution of public justice, to put a malefactor to death who has forfeited his life to the laws of his country. But the law must require it, other wise it is not justifiable. 4 Bl. Gomm. 178. NECK-VERSE. The Latin sentence, "Miserere mei, Dens," was so called, because the reading of it was made a test for those who claimed benefit of clergy. NEEDLESS. In a statute against "need less" killing or mutilation of any animal, this term denotes an act done without any useful motive, in a spirit of wanton cruelty, or for the mere pleasure of destruction. 37 Ark. 460; 4 Mo. App. 215. NEFAS. Lat. That which is against right or the divine law. A wicked or impi ous thing or act. Calvin. NEFASTUS. Lat. Inauspicious. Ap plied, in the Roman law, to a day on which it was unlawful to open the courts or admin ister justice. Negatio conclusionis est error In lege. Wing. 268. The denial of a conclu sion is error in law. Negatio destruit negationem, et am bee faciunt affirmationem. A negative destroys a negative, and both make an af firmative. Co. Litt. 1466. Lord Coke cites this as a rule of grammatical construction, not always applying in law. Negatio duplex est affirmatio. A double negative is an affirmative. NEGATIVE. A denial; a proposition by which something is denied; a statement in the form of denial. Two negatives do not make a good issue. Steph. Fl. 386, 387. NEGATIVE AVERMENT. As op posed to the traverse or simple denial of an affirmative allegation, a negative averment is an allegation of some substantive fact, e. g., that premises are not in repair, which, although negative in form, is really affirma tive in substance, and the party alleging the fact of non-repair must prove it. Brown. NEGATIVE CONDITION. One by which it is stipulated that a given thing shall not happen. NEGATIVE COVENANT. One in which the covenantor binds himself not to do or perform a specified act or thing. NEGATIVE EASEMENT. One by which the owner of the servient estate is

prohibited from doing something otherwise lawful upon his estate, because it will affect the dominant estate, (as interrupting the light and air from the latter by building on the former.) 2 Washb. Real Prop. 301; 70 N. Y. 447. NEGATIVE PREGNANT. In plead ing. A negative implying also an affirma tive. Cowell. Such a form of negative ex pression as may imply or carry within it an affirmative. Steph. Fl. 381. As if a man be said to have aliened land in fee, and he says he has not aliened in fee, this is a neg ative pregnant; for, though it be true that he has not aliened in fee, yet it may be that he has made an estate in tail, Cowell. NEGATIVE STATUTE. A statute ex pressed in negative terms; a statute which prohibits a thing from being done, or declares what shall not be done. N E G L E C T . Omission; failure to do something that one is bound to do; careless ness. The term is used in the law of bailment as synonymous with "negligence." But the latter word is the closer translation of the Latin "negligentia." As used in respect to the payment of money, refusal is the failure to pay money when demanded; neglect is the failure to pay money which the party is bound to pay with out demand. 6 Gray, 224. The term means to omit, as to neglect business or payment or duty or work, and is generally used in this sense. It does not generally imply care lessness or imprudence, but simply an omission to do or perform some work, duty, or act. 61N. Y. 962. NEGLIGENCE. The omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily reg ulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and rea sonable man would not do. It must be de termined in all cases by reference to the sit uation and knowledge of the parties and all the attendant circumstances. 15 Wall. 536; 11 Exch. 784. Negligence, in its civil relation, is such an inadvertent imperfection, by a responsible human agent, in the discharge of a legal du ty, as immediately produces, in an ordinary and natural sequence, a damage to another. Whart. Neg. § 3. It is conceded by all the authorities that the standard by which to determine whether a person has been guilty of negligence is the

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