The Fatal Accidents Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c.93), commonly known as Lord Campbell's Act, was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, that, for the first time in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, allowed relatives of people killed by the wrongdoing of others to recover

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

Background

Under the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

of England and Wales, the death of a person causes solely emotional and

pure economic loss Economic loss is a term of art which refers to financial loss and damage suffered by a person which is seen only on a balance sheet and not as physical injury to person or property. There is a fundamental distinction between pure economic loss and ...

to their relatives. In general, damages cannot be recovered for either type of damage, only for physical damage to the claimant or their property. This was the rule declared by the court in '' Baker v. Bolton'' (1808).

Scottish law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland l ...

was different in that the court could grant a

solatium Solatium (plural ''solatia'') is a form of compensation for emotional rather than physical or financial harm. The word entered English during the 1810s, as a loanword from Latin or . World examples England & Wales Section 1A of the Fatal A ...

in acknowledgment of the family's grief. Thus, if a person was injured through a

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

, the wrongdoer would be liable for causing injury. If the person were killed, there would be no liability. Perversely, the wrongdoer had a financial interest in killing, rather than injuring, a victim. However, during the 1830s the rapid development of the railways led to increasing public hostility to the epidemic of railway deaths and the indifferent attitudes of the railway companies. As a result,

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

juries A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England durin ...

started to revive the ancient remedy of

deodand A deodand is a thing forfeited or given to God, specifically, in law, an object or instrument that becomes forfeited because it has caused a person's death. The English common law of deodands traces back to the 11th century and was applied, on a ...

s as a way of penalizing the railways. The railway accident at Sonning Cutting (1841) was particularly notorious.Kostal (1994) pp. 289-290. This alerted legislators, in particular Lord Campbell and the

Select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

on Railway Labourers (1846).Cornish & Clarke (1989) pp. 503-504. In the face of railway opposition, Campbell introduced a bill in 1845, along with a bill to abolish deodands. The latter proposal, which became law as the

Deodands Act 1846 The Deodands Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict, c.62) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that abolished the ancient remedy of deodands. Background By the early nineteenth century, the ancient remedy of deodands had largely f ...

, to some extent mitigated railway hostility.

The Act

The Act came into effect in August 1846 and gave

personal representative In common law jurisdictions, a personal representative or legal personal representative is a person appointed by a court to administer the estate of another person. If the estate being administered is that of a deceased person, the personal repres ...

s the right to bring a

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

for damages where the deceased person had such a right at the time of their death. Compensation was restricted to the husband, parent, or child of the deceased and was for "such damages ... proportioned to the injury resulting from such death." The wording left the question of how damages were to be assessed. In '' Franklin v. South Eastern Railway'' (1858),'' Franklin v. South Eastern Railway'' (1858) 3 H&N 211; 157 ER 448

Baron Pollock Sir Charles Edward Pollock, serjeant-at-law, SL (31 October 1823 – 21 November 1897) was an England, English judge, one of the last Baron of the Court of the Exchequer, Barons of the Court of the Exchequer and Serjeant-at-law, serjeants-at-law ...

held that the Act did not grant a Scottish-style solatium but solely damages for economic loss.

Repeal

The Act was variously amended and finally repealed by Schedule 2 of the

Fatal Accidents Act 1976 The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 (c 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that allows relatives of people killed by the wrongdoing of others to recover damages. Background The Fatal Accidents Act 1846 had allowed claims for damages ...

which governs fatal accident compensation and is based on similar principles. Limited compensation for a family's grief was finally granted by the Administration of Justice Act 1982, section 3.

International inspirations

Similar legislation has since been brought into force throughout the English-speaking world. For example, part 3 of the Wrongs Act 1958 of

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

is often referred to as a Lord Campbell's Act.

References

Bibliography