Volenti non fit injuria (Latin: "to a willing person, no injury is done") is a
common law doctrine which means that if someone willingly places themselves in a
position where harm might result, knowing that some degree of harm might result, they cannot then sue if harm does
in fact happen. The 'volenti' only applies to the risk which a reasonable person would consider them as having assumed by their
actions; thus a boxer consents to being hit, and to the injuries that might be expected from
being hit, but is not a 'volenti' if (for example) his opponent should swing an iron bar at him, or punch him outside the usual
terms of boxing.
'Volenti' (from which, indirectly, the English word 'volunteer' is derived) is
sometimes described as the plaintiff "consenting to run a risk". In this context, 'volenti' can be distinguished from legal
consent in that the latter can prevent some torts arising in the
first place (for example, consent to a medical procedure prevents the procedure from being a trespass
to the person, or consenting to a person visiting your land prevents them from being a trespasser).
Examples
- rugby and football players consent to the
incidental contact that arise from the normal conduct of those sports, including the attendant
risk of physical injury. In boxing, participants consent to the deliberate infliction of harm by
their opponent. However, if a player goes outside the usual conduct of the sport, or a match official is negligent in letting
play get out of control, then a claim may arise. It may be said that the standard of
care in such cases has been altered, to increase the threshold of carelessness necessary to found a claim.
- A person who ignores a safety warning, and explores a construction site or other dangerous area, is a 'volunteer' in terms of
'volenti', if they should in fact be injured or killed by their actions. (However compare the alternative scenario, where the
site is not in line with health and safety regulations, 'volenti' may
potentially not apply since the risk they volunteered for was that of a person visiting a construction site which was of normal
professional quality. Also see: contributory negligence)
Related legal issues
In some cases, volenti overlaps with the contributory negligence,
which can reduce the defendant's legal responsibility to take account of the culpabity of the plaintiff.
Case: Smith v Baker (1891)
See also
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