contracts, civil law. An improper act or omission, which arises from ignorance, carelessness, or negligence. The act or omission must not have been meditated, and must have caused some injury to another. Lec. Elcm. Section 783. See Dolus, Negligence. 1 Miles’ Rep. 40. 2. 1. Faults or negligence are usually divided into, gross, ordinary, and slight: 1. Gross fault or neglect, consists in not observing that care towards others, which a man the least attentive, usually takes of his own affairs. Such fault may, in some cases, afford a presumption of fraud, and in very gross cases it approaches so near, as to be almost undistinguishable from it, especially when the facts seem hardly consistent with an honest intention. But there may be a gross fault without fraud. 2. Ordinary faults consist in the omission of that care which mankind generally pay to their own concerns; that is, the want of ordinary diligence. 3. A slight fault consists in the want of that care which very attentive persons take of their own affairs. This fault assimilates itself, and, in some cases, is scarcely distinguishable, from mere accident, or want of foresight. This division has been adopted by common lawyers from the civil law. Although the civilians generally agree in this division, yet they are not without a difference of opinion.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
In the civil law. Negligence; want of care. An improper act or omission, injurious to another, and transpiring through negligence, rashness, or ignorance.
There are in law three degrees of faults, the gross, the slight, and the very slight fault. The gross fault is that which proceeds from inexcusable negligence or ignorance; It is considered as nearly equal to fraud. The slight fault is that want of care which a prudent man usually takes of his business. The very slight fault is that which is excusable, and for which no responsibility is incurred. Civil Code La. art. 3556, par. 13. In American law. Negligence; an error or defect of judgment or of conduct; any deviation from prudence, duty, or rectitude; any shortcoming or neglect of care or performance resulting from inattention, incapacity, or perversity; a wrong tendency, course, or act.
In commercial law. Defect; imperfection; blemish. See WITH ALL FAULTS.
In mining law. A dislocation of strata; particularly, a severance of the continuity of a vein or lode by the dislocation of a portion of it.