Lord Campbell's Act

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The Fatal Accidents Act 1846 (UK) is usually referred to as Lord Campbell's Act after its creator. This statute provided that compensation might be obtained by the dependants of a victim of homicide.

At common law, the death of a person is not an injury to his relatives, and so the latter cannot bring a negligence suit. This meant that if a person was injured through negligence, the tortfeasor would be liable for causing injury; if the person was killed, there would be no liability. Consequently, a person who owed a duty of care had a financial interest in killing (rather than maiming) a victim whenever possible. This kind of perverse incentive, which no sane legislature would knowingly enact into law, can easily arise in the common law, which is the result of accumulated court decisions, without any central plan or principle.

Lord Campbell's Act provided that survivors of a negligently killed person could bring an action against the tortfeasor. Similar legislation has since been brought into force throughout the English-speaking world. For example, part 3 of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) is often referred to as a Lord Campbell's Act.