P, a miner, was standing in a position where he had been ordered not to stand, and was injured when another miner negligently drove a vehicle into him. P sued D, the mining company. CA said that it was partly P’s fault and partly D’s fault, so that the damages P could have got had he not been acting carelessly would be reduced under the 1945 Act.
Denning LJ: “A person is guilty of contributory negligence if he ought reasonably to have foreseen that, if he did not act as a reasonable, prudent man, he might be hurt himself; and in his reckonings he must take into account the possibility of others being careless.” Once negligence is established, the share of the loss attributed to each party, however, does NOT depend on foreseeability, but on causation. “What faults were there which caused the damage?” Causation is a matter of common sense.
