A Treatise UPON THE LAW APPLICABLE ΤΟ NEGLIGENCE. BY THOMAS WILLIAM SAUNDERS, Esq., OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, RECORDER OF BATH. LONDON: BUTTERWORTHS, 7, FLEET STREET, HODGES, FOSTER & CO., GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN. GEORGE ROBERTSON, MELBOURNE. THACKER, SPINK & Co., CALCUTTA. PREFACE. THE vast increase which of late years has taken place in the number of actions brought in our Courts for compensation for injuries occasioned by negligence, and the somewhat obscure state of the law in many particulars applicable to this description of litigation, have induced the Author of the following pages to endeavour to supply, in a compendious and convenient shape, a volume, by which a ready reference may be obtained to the authorities upon the subject. There is, perhaps, no branch of the law which, within so short a period, has so grown and developed itself, as that which has spread over the subject of Negligence. Few sittings take place at Nisi Prius at which several actions for negligence are not brought to trial, whilst there is scarcely any description of legal contention in which points of difficulty more frequently arise. Under such circumstances, it is certainly a matter justifying some surprise that no Treatise devoted to the elucidation of the law applicable to this head of litigation should heretofore have been presented to the public. To supply such deficiency the Author has ventured to compile the following pages; and should his efforts (inefficient and incomplete as they may be) in any way assist in facilitating a reference to the law upon the subject, he will feel that he will have accomplished a task not altogether devoid of utility. 1, CLOISTERS, TEMPLE, 21st November, 1870. INTRODUCTION CONTENTS. PAGE AS TO THE EXISTENCE OF NEGLIGENCE. SECT. 1.-What facts are not evidence of negligence |