Brown v. Kendall, 60 Mass. 292 (1850), was a case credited as one of the first appearances of the reasonable person

Reasonable person

The reasonable person is a legal fiction of the common law that represents an objective standard against which any individual's conduct can be measured...

 standard in United States tort law.

Factual background

The plaintiff and defendant engaged their dogs in a dog fight, and in the process of trying to break up the fight the defendant hit the plaintiff in the eye with a stick. In the trial court the defendant requested that instructions be given to the jury about contributory negligence

Contributory negligence

Contributory negligence in common-law jurisdictions is defense to a claim based on negligence, an action in tort. It applies to cases where a plaintiff/claimant has, through his own negligence, contributed to the harm he suffered...

 and a standard resembling the reasonable person standard, but the judge declined to give the instructions. The jury rendered a verdict for the plaintiff, and the defendant appealed.

Decision

The court reasoned that the defendant should only be liable if he was at fault. Fault should be determined by whether or not the defendant was acting with "ordinary care and prudence," a formulation of the reasonable person standard. The court determined that the lower court should have considered this standard when determining negligence

Negligence

Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...

and ordered a new trial.