Journal of the Charles University Law Faculty
Karel Beran, Jiří Hrádek
Author’s affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague
What Negligence Relates to and Comprises in Private Law
Jurisprudence 1/2017 Section: Articles Page: 14-24
Keywords: negligence, fault, unlawfulness, civil liability, fault based liability, Czech legal order, Civil Code
Abstract: The new Civil Code, which was adopted in 2012 in the Czech Republic and came into effect on 1 January 2014, brought a significant change into Czech law. It newly establishes and redefines a number of legal institutes and legal concepts. One of them is the issue of negligence and the presumption of negligence, which are closely intertwined. While there is no doubt as regards the existence of the presumption of negligence, whether the Civil Code also defines the term of negligence is contestable. In particular, when the Civil Code lays down that something “is presumed”, one has to ask whether it concurrently stipulates “what is presumed”, i.e. what does, in fact, negligence in private law constitute. This question prompted the authors to ask what negligence relates to and what it comprises in private law, and whether the violation of legal duties as such could be deemed as negligent conduct.
